A farmer in Russia's Far East has described burning her business to the ground as her “only way out” in a letter condeming the Kremlin's agriculture policy, the EAOMedia.ru news website reported Monday.
Writing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Galina Kiselyova, owner of the Raddevsky cow farm in the country's Jewish Autonomous District, said that a lack of government support was “forcing her to burn the entire cowshed filled with livestock.”
“We have 610 cattle and 250 of them are expected to calve in the winter,” Kiselyova wrote. “It means we will have to sell at least 150 cows because there won't be enough space. But it is almost impossible to sell cattle at the moment: we've barely sold 50 bulls,” she said.
Kiselyova also said that it was difficult to sell meat and that local authorities provided no assistance to local farmers. Burning the livestock was the farm's “only way out,” she said.
The Raddevsky farm is struggling to pay fines — in February Russia’s agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor imposed a fine of 230,000 rubles ($3,500) on the farm for violating veterinary rules, EAOMedia.ru reported. Kiselyova said that she was “tired of the lawlessness of the officials” and “groundless fines,” the local Birbidzhan Star newspaper reported.
District officials told the Newsru.com news website that Raddevsky received 3,6 million rubles ($55,400) in government aid in 2015, and that a federal support program was still in place.
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