Russia Punishes the West, Damages Self, Incites Change.

In response to sanctions from Western countries against Moscow, Russia banned the import of many food and agricultural products in August. The prime minister of Russia announced that they would ban all beef, pork, fish, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway for one year. Aside from the United States, Russia is the largest market for European agricultural exports, last year summing up to about 15.7 billion dollars according to the European Union’s statistics agency. In the short term finding new suppliers will be difficult for Russia. With Putin’s approval rating at 87% he isn’t facing dissent for this action. Some consequences of the sanctions include an increase in food prices, Inflation rising to 8.3 percent. Prices for meat and poultry rose more than 18 percent and dairy prices are up by over 15 percent, according to Russia’s federal statistics agency. Despite these facts, the Russian public for the most part supports the sanctions, possibly as a result of effective propaganda run on their televisions.

30% of Russia’s population earn their living from agriculture or related industries. Before the sanctions these people were urging for an emphasis on local goods. As an unintended consequence of the ban on foreign suppliers many local farms and businesses have received the opportunity to be successful. Ten percent of chickens sold in Russia came from abroad, mostly the United States. The sanctions were very useful for local producers who no longer had to compete with America’s low prices.

Most noticeably, the sanctions produced a change in the mindset of the citizens with an increased awareness of the origination of their goods, as well as the rise of a social movement. The sanctions spurred desperation in many major Russian grocery chains. Clamoring to stock their shelves, they began to turn to farm to table organizations like LavkaLavka.  This organic farm cooperative doesn’t produce nearly the amount of food the grocery chains need but the attention given to them is vital to the spread of their ideology. The sanctions are giving a chance for local farmers to develop and sustainable agriculture to grow. Increasingly, the public is considering where their food comes from as a result of the sanctions.

Ponomarev The New York Times, Sergey. Boris Akimov, who runs LavkaLavka, an organic farm cooperative, hopes that with the ban on Western imports, Russians will explore local foods. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web.

Some citizens hope the sanctions last long enough for Russians to become knowledgeable about the food their country produces as opposed to finding new suppliers to replace the banned ones. LavkaLavka has begun a monthly food festival celebrating something local each month. The month of November celebrated the Parsnip.

The citizens of Russia’s everyday lives were impacted by a large societal process. From a sociological perspective, the increased awareness of the citizens towards local goods as a consequence of global politics is an example of a macro-micro connection. On the macrolevel of analysis lies the politics between the countries and their incentives for imposing these sanctions. The interactions of the nation’s governments, which are in themselves large social structures, is an example of a societal and historical process. These sanctions resulted in a change in ideology in the citizens which would place it on the microlevel of analysis.  The people of Russia’s new consideration of food and where it comes from was a direct result of the interrelationship between the macrolevel societal forces and microlevel everyday processes. 

Video: Siberian farmer is ecstatic he can sell his mozzarella now that Italy is out of the market.