It's tough being a goose

The Times reports:

President Putin’s campaign to destroy western foodstuffs has plunged to new levels of absurdity with the public flattening of three frozen geese by bulldozer in a village in central Russia.

The bizarre incident, akin to a Monty Python sketch, according to Angus Roxburgh, a former Kremlin adviser, involved at least ten representatives of the state, including police, agriculture inspectors and official witnesses.

The vacuum-packed Hungarian geese were seized by four grim-faced officials from a shop in Apastovo, about 500 miles east of Moscow. The birds lacked proper documentation, an official declared as she read the confiscation order aloud to witnesses.

The geese were taken to a landfill site, where the witnesses stated their names and addresses for a video cameraman. Under Mr Putin’s decree, the destruction of contraband western food must be filmed, to prevent officials confiscating the products for their own later consumption.

The geese, weighing 3.6kg each, and garnished with vegetables and seasoning, were placed on the ground in a neat row by an official. Moments later, a bulldozer rumbled forward and began rolling over the geese repeatedly as the officials and witnesses looked on.