The paths of geopolitics are incomprehensible. For example, Russia is becoming a successful producer of Gallic and Italian cheeses, which until recently (before the annexation of Crimea in 2014) it imported from abroad. It may seem strange, but there is a close connection between diplomatic decisions made in Brussels or Kremlin offices and the ability of Russian companies to make their own parmesan or mozzarella slices, which was clearly revealed at the Moscow fair.

We explain ourselves.

Parmesan “Made in Moscow”A few weeks ago, the EFE agency published a strange history of the cheese fair held in the Moscow region. And what is strange is not where, how or when the festival is held, but the reality it reflects: over the past decade, Russian companies have incredibly developed the art of making their own European cheese.

The festival featured parmesan wheels and varieties of gouda, cheddar or camembert that would be expected in any market around the world to come from traditional farms in France or Italy, but in Moscow these were already local products. The cheesemakers who exhibited there came from regions of the Russian Federation such as Krasnodar, Bryansk or Voronezh.

“They are working very well for us.”Alexandr Molotov is a clear example of Russia’s cheese revival. He told EFE during the Moscow fair that although his farm in the Kursk region has a history of nearly two centuries, it was not until just ten years ago that he decided to make a clear move into cheese production.

Your situation is not unique. Mikhail, a representative of another dairy in Dzhankoi, describes how a few years ago the Russian industry began producing burrata, mozzarella and camembert, among other varieties. “We decided to learn how to make them, and they work quite well,” he celebrates. Some turn to foreign ferments to improve their products. There are even Italian entrepreneurs who, instead of locating their farms in traditional cheese-growing regions like Apulia or Calabria, decided to establish them in the heart of Klin, northwest of Moscow.

But… Why? This is where geopolitics come in. Russia’s cheese fever is explained by the complex international scenario that emerged after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol in 2014: as a result of this event, Western countries adopted a series of sanctions that prompted Moscow to respond harshly to Russia. A “total embargo” is imposed on certain food imports from the US, EU, Australia, Canada and Norway. The veto affected meat, fruit, vegetables and cheese, among other dairy products.

ten years laterThe measure was announced only a decade ago, in August 2014, after the European Council (EC) approved its own sanctions restricting the import and export of certain goods and technologies to the Russian Federation. Ten years have passed since then, but relations between the West and Moscow are even more tense today, amid the invasion of Ukraine. The EU veto has been extended until at least June 2025. The situation has not returned to normal in the opposite direction either.

Although Russia initially granted its veto for one year and quickly issued a list of banned foods, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture explains in a fact sheet dated 2024 that “the established ban on food imports from the EU remains in force”. Its website a few days ago Agricultural Journal In fact, he published an analysis of how the Russian veto affected the fruit and pork industry over the course of a decade.

“Deep respect”In its report on the Moscow fair, EFE spoke to industry professionals who did not hesitate to associate the current situation with the breaking of sanctions and embargoes in August 2014. “I have deep respect for those who embraced counter-sanctions,” says Molotov, who decided to get involved in cheese production a decade ago after two centuries of family farming tradition in Kursk province.

Mijaíl, the representative of the Dzjankói factory, admits that the sanctions of June 2014 forced the country to “look for solutions.” “This also stimulated a certain growth and development,” he notes: “It turned out that certain types of cheese, such as camembert, burrata or mozzarella, were no longer supplied to the country, and many local producers, including us, decided to learn how to make them.”

“This worked to our advantage. The sanctions encouraged us,” he admits. Reviving the national economy is actually part of the argument Vladimir Putin uses to justify embargoes on Western imports.

An effective exampleMoscow’s trade embargo was not just paper. Evidence that the Kremlin took the veto seriously is that significant seizures have occurred since then. In August 2015, Russian police arrested six men who ran a $30 million foreign cheese smuggling ring. The operation seized 470 tons.

Around the same time, authorities demonstrated how they destroyed nine tons of Western cheese in the Belgorod region with the help of a steamroller. Just before the pandemic, in July 2019, customs seized and destroyed a shipment of almost two tons of Spanish peaches.

“Sanctions helped us”. This solid commercial shield has emboldened Russian companies in the sector, as interviewed by Radio Free Europe in 2018: The firm had focused on cheese production since Soviet times, but in 2015, with the new geopolitical scenario, it decided to reorient its production towards European varieties such as mozzarella, emmental or parmesan. Its workers even travelled to Italy and France to receive on-site training and prepare the cheeses.

“The sanctions helped us,” admitted the head of the factory, which employed 380 people, produced 30 types of cheese and dairy products and reached record production levels in 2018.

So what do the numbers say? The data is scattered, but it helps us get a more precise idea of ​​how the new political scenario is being translated into Russian reality. According to Rosstat tables collected by US News, in 2016, just two years after the embargo against the US or the EU, Russian companies produced 17.5% more beef, 30.6% more pork, 11.9% more poultry, 31.6% more beef compared to 2014. There was a significant growth of 5.8% in frozen vegetables, 5.8% in milk, and 20.2% in cheese.

Dairy News Today He assures that the Russian association Soyuzmoloko predicts that cheese production in the country will increase by 2.3 times in the decade between 2013 and 2023, reaching 801,000 tons at the end of last year.

“The embargo was a big incentive for us because it meant we could produce more,” said Andrei Danilenko of the Russian dairy union. The gap left by imports was not entirely covered by our own goods. Another major supplier was Belarus. Or Turkey for fruit.

A reality with nuances. Not all has been well for the Russian economy and trade. In 2022, Aljzeera published a comprehensive report in which it explained that beyond the images of Russian steamroller destroying European cheese wheels and the figures for increased production, there were also shades of Moscow’s efforts to substitute Western imports.

According to its data, between 2013 and 2019, dairy products of foreign origin continued to dominate supermarket shelves, and in the food sector in general, import vetoes reduced competition and increased prices. IndexMundi showed, for example, that beef was much more expensive in 2022 than in 2014, before the embargo.

“Increasing domestic production of some agricultural products in Russia cannot be considered a successful import substitution, because Russian consumers have already paid and continue to pay a significant price for this policy,” said Denis Daydov, a professor at the University of Vaasa.

Images | Jonny Gios (Unsplash), GovernmentZA (Flickr) and X5 Group (Flickr)

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