More than 4 tons of vegetables from the European Union have been seized in Russia-annexed Crimea after an attempt to smuggle them across the border under sacks of potatoes and cabbage produced in Ukraine. The press service of Russia’s Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) announced this in a statement, RBC Ukraine reports.
According to the statement, a consignment of produce was seized at the Armyansk border crossing on 7 August. "According to the accompanying documents, the sender – LLC Export Service, which is based in Novaya Kakhovka (Kherson region, Ukraine) – delivered exclusively Ukrainian vegetables to the Crimea: 10 tons of onions, 2 tons of potatoes, 1 ton of beets, 1 ton of carrots, and 1 ton of peppers. However, substitution was uncovered during physical inspection of the produce, which was addressed to the Simferopol-based IP Romanov R. I. Inspectors found more than 4 tons of smuggled produce with a European label under the sacks," the statement said.
In particular, the consignment consisted of 2.4 tons of bell peppers and 1.3 tons of "Iceberg" salad and "Lettuce" salad from Holland. In addition, 102 kilograms of "Cherry" tomatoes from Italy, 143 kilograms of celery from Germany, and about 18 kilograms of salad from Norway were uncovered.
The produce was buried in a landfill in Armyansk.
According to an online poll conducted by the TSIMES center, about 87% of Russian citizens oppose the authorities' decision to destroy sanctioned produce.
