The family's success shows how far Russia's cheese-making industry has come since President Vladimir Putin banned Western food imports in 2014 in a tit-for-tat measure over the Ukraine crisis. Many Russians had developed a taste for French and Italian cheeses prior to sanctions, and Moscow seized the opportunity to put in place an "import substitution" strategy. More than 3,800 cheeses from 42 countries were in competition at this year's World Cheese Awards in Bergamo, Italy, where products are awarded supergold, gold, silver or bronze prizes. At last year's competition no Russian entries were recognised but this year the Kovtuns' "Cheese & Beer" creamery and three other Russian cheesemakers won a total of nine awards. They now help each other, plan to expand their operations and praise Putin for creating what Sirota calls Russia's "cheese fever".

Source: Bangkok Post November 27, 2019 03:11 UTC