Vladimir Putin has done it. In the name of all that is dairy, he has finally crossed a line.
The Associated Press reports that Russia's president ordered tons of contraband cheese, fruits, and vegetables be destroyed on Thursday — and officials began accomplishing the task using incinerators, tractors, and even steamrollers.
If literally steamrolling perfectly delicious cheese seems insane (because it is insane), well, Putin is just cracking down on the ban he implemented in 2014 of many Western food products. That ban was in response to U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia following the country's annexation of Crimea.
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However, AP notes that many of Putin's constituents did not agree with their president's order; the sanctions on Moscow have caused the country's poverty rate to increase significantly, and many Russians questioned why the government was destroying literal tons of perfectly good food — even if it is contraband food — instead of, say, donating it to the poor.
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