



More than 7,500 tons of food has been destroyed in Russia since the Kremlin's introduction of a ban on Western imports in August last year, the Interfax news agency reported Friday.

Almost all the food that was destroyed — 7,282 tons — was of plant origin. 228.6 tons were products of animal origin, the news agency reported, citing the Rosselkhoznadzor state agricultural watchdog.

The destruction of banned food products from the West was ordered by President Vladimir Putin in August 2015.

The measure came a year after Russia imposed a ban on a wide range of food imports from the European Union, the U.S., Norway, Australia and Canada in response to the sanctions imposed on Moscow over the annexation of and its alleged involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Last year, Russia added Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Ukraine to its food embargo list. In June, Putin signed a decree prolonging the ban until the end of 2017.