Better Fish to Fry: Why Russia Scrapped Key Fishing Treaty With UK

President Putin signed a law Monday annulling a 1956 treaty on fishing rights in the Barents Sea which allowed British ships to trawl Russian waters in the Arctic body of water. At a stroke of a pen, Moscow deprived British fish & chips shops of up to 40% of their cod and haddock. Check out Sputnik's infographic to learn why Russia did what it did.

Duma lawmakers kicked off the procedure to pull out of the 68-year-old Russian-British fishing treaty in January.

An explanatory note accompanying Putin's signature of the termination of the treaty said the move "will not cause serious foreign policy" or "economic consequences" for Russia, with the agreement - which allowed British fishing boats to fish in parts of the Barents Sea along the Kola Peninsula's coast, Cape Kanin Nos and Kolguyev Island, deemed to have lost any sense for Russia to to maintain after Britain unilaterally moved to scrap Russia's most favored nation status in 2022.

The bit about no "economic consequences" to be borne by the treaty's termination doesn't apply to the British side, which the UK facing serious questions about where to get the fish for perhaps its best-known national dish - fish & chips.

Last month, Duma lawmaker Rosa Chemeris pointed out that "over 500,000 tons of fish was harvested under this agreement last year alone," with London now in a bind as to where to get cheap fish on Britons' plates now that the Russian avenue has been closed to them.