Russian authorities to take account of petition against destruction of sanctioned food

MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/. Petition against the destruction of foodstuffs, which are brought to Russia from the EU in spite of the sanctions imposed by Moscow, will be taken account of by the authorities, the Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"We haven't verified it (the petition) so far and there have been more requests and activists actually have appeared who are saying they are ready to prove their authenticity," he said. "They also say they outnumber 200,000 already."

"Quite naturally, this is taken into account and is reported to the appropriate state agencies," Peskov said.

He said, however, that the main consideration behind the steps towards destroying consignments of contraband Western manufacture was the absence of any documents or identification codes on the products.

Kremlin advises against overreaction to destruction of sanctioned foodstuffs

Peskov also noted that the issue should not be exaggerated as the confiscated products were smuggled and could pose risk to health.

"This all definitely does not look good," Peskov told journalists when asked to comment on the moral side of the issue.

Peskov said the issue "should first of all not be exaggerated."

"We are talking here about smuggled goods, which had no certificates and other documents and no one would assume responsibility and guarantee that the goods, which can look very palatable, do not pose risk to human health," he said.

Russia's government has ordered the Federal Customs Service, agriculture watchdog and consumer rights watchdog to destroy all products on its sanctions list the moment they enter Russian territory.

The initiative was proposed by Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachyov at a government meeting with Vladimir Putin on July 24.