MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. Over 7,500 banned food imports, mostly fruits and vegetables, were destroyed in Russia over the year, the country’s agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor told TASS on Friday.
"Overall, 7,282 tons of vegetable products under sanctions have been destroyed from August 6, 2015 to date," Rosselkhoznadzor spokeswoman Yulia Melano said.
The largest amount of vegetables and fruits were destroyed in the Bryansk and the Smolensk Regions (over 2,700 tons), the Tver and the Pskov Regions (almost 1,900 tons), the Rostov and the Volgograd Regions and the Republic of Kalmykia (more than 600 tons).
Mostly such vegetable products as apples, pears, peaches, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, strawberry, oranges, nectarines and grapes were destroyed, the Rosselkhoznadzor spokeswoman said.
From August 6, 2015, Russia also destroyed 228,642 tons of foods of animal origin, she said.
Most frequently, these products were destroyed in Altai, the Altai Territory and the Belgorod Region, she added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on July 29, 2015 on destroying foods falling under Russia's food embargo in response to the sanctions imposed by some Western countries on Moscow over its stance on the Ukraine developments.
Banned food imports began to be destroyed in Russia from August 6, 2015.