It's been a year since Russia banned Italian parmesan, French brie and many other imported foods in response to Western sanctions. So naturally, the time is now ripe to celebrate.
So Russian President Vladimir Putin is throwing a massive fondue party of sorts. His decree to destroy illegal imports at the border took effect Thursday. And everyone knows the best way to get rid of cheese is to BURN it.
And there's lots of evidence of this, thanks to a "pics or it didn't happen" stipulation in the decree — a measure designed to prevent corrupt officials from pocketing the contraband goodies for themselves.
So, cheese-lovers, brace yourselves. What you're about to see may be very disturbing.
The cheese shown here was discovered in Belgorod region without proper import documents or labels and it's not clear where it was produced, according to this Rossiya 24 report. But officials think it's possible that it came from the European Union, so onto the heap it goes.