OREANDA-NEWS  Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree according to which Korean pine pine nuts are included in the list of strategically important goods in Russia - both in the shell and peeled from the shell. The document is published on the official Internet portal of legal information.

Smuggling of nuts will be punished by imprisonment for up to 12 years, Kommersant clarifies. The newspaper notes that the initiator of the inclusion of pine nuts in the list was the Governor of Primorsky Krai Oleg Kozhemyako. According to the official, pine nuts are a valuable resource for the economy, as well as an important link in the food supply of animals living in the region.

The purpose of the changes in legislation is to "create conditions for processing all harvested pine nuts within the country, thereby significantly increasing the surplus value of the final product," said Konstantin Stepanov, Minister of Forestry and Wildlife Protection of Primorsky Krai. He added that the expansion of the list of strategic resources is aimed at eliminating the possibility of illegally exporting nuts harvested in the Primorsky Territory.