Orthodox Church backs embargo on food imports

Russia’s Orthodox Church has welcomed President Vladimir Putin’s ban on Western food imports as a chance to spurn “Western consumer standards”, writes Jonathan Luxmoore.

“We need to learn moderation and self-control, and be able to manage on little,” said Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Church’s Synodal Department for Church-Society Cooperation. “The time has finally come to choose between the West and Russia, between a free and independent future for our people, or a situation in which we listen to shouts from Washington, Brussels and Wall Street instead of the voices of our own countrymen.”

The priest was speaking after Mr Putin imposed the food embargo on the United States and European Union member-­countries that had earlier tightened sanctions on Russia’s energy, defence and banking sectors over the crisis in Ukraine. He told the Interfax news agency the embargo was a legitimate response to the West’s “discriminatory actions” and would help Russian citizens stop “following the standards of Western consumers”. Mr Putin announced the embargo on 6 August, citing “national interests”.