Russian officials euthanized and then burned 50 ducklings being smuggled into the country from Ukraine, Zvezda TV channel reported Saturday.
"The ducklings did not have any accompanying documents, so a decision was made to destroy them," Svetlana Zaporozhchenko, head of the Belgorod region's branch of Rosselkhoznadzor agricultural watchdog, told the channel.
According to the report, the man transporting the fluffy cargo was a regular duckling smuggler who would purchase the hatchlings at a market in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and then sell them in Russia, deliberately avoiding border checkpoints.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last month ordering the destruction of food originating from countries that introduced sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
Ukraine itself has also introduced sanctions against Russia.
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