" I would like to use this opportunity to ask you and the Russian government to do everything possible in order for us to destroy all the products that are illegally entering the Russian border — right there on the spot," Tkachev said during a ministerial meeting with the the president, noting that currently the law requires all goods be sent back where they were came from.
"Okay. Let's accept the minister's proposal. I am asking the administration and the government to work with lawyers and to come up with the appropriate solutions," Putin responded.
The move was a response to Western sanctions against Russia over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, a claim that Moscow has repeatedly denied.
After the European Union, the United States and their allies extended the anti-Russia economic sanctions in late June, Moscow prolonged the one-year food importation ban.
Russia has repeatedly stressed that the Western sanctions are counterproductive and hurt not only the target country but those applying the measures as well.
