Existential Nothingness
Six years ago, Putin initiated a program to eliminate pesticides and genetically engineered crops from Russia’s fields.
Monsanto had planned to open its first plant in Russia, but in June 2016 Russia’s State Duma adopted a government bill banning the cultivation and breeding of genetically modified plants and animals, except as used for scientific research purposes.
A few weeks later, Putin signed federal law No. 358 prohibiting cultivation of genetically engineered crops. The law also made it illegal to breed genetically engineered animals on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Putin had said he envisioned a future in which Russia would become “the worlds largest supplier of ecologically clean and high-quality organic food.”
He called on the country to become completely self-sufficient in food production: “We are not only able to feed ourselves taking into account our lands, water resources; Russia is able to become the largest world supplier of healthful, ecologically clean and high-quality food which the Western producers have long lost, especially given the fact that demand for such products in the world market is steadily growing”.
The Most Revolutionary Act 
Hmmm… the Russian position seems a little confusing and possibly contradictory but the Federal law referred to (358) is real:
Another document:
Decree suggests gene editing techniques will not be banned like GMOs.
According to a federal program announced in 2019, some gene editing techniques will be exempt from a 2016 law that banned the cultivation of genetically engineered organisms except for research purposes. The decree establishing the program describes gene editing as equivalent to conventional breeding methods, the view adopted by most of the world except for the European Union. The federal program aims to create 10 new varieties of gene edited crops and animals by 2020 and another 20 by 2027.
Genetically engineered organisms are regulated by the Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor), which is responsible for developing legislation on genetically engineered products and monitoring the influence of genetically engineered products on people and the environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, which develops policy for the use of genetically engineered organisms in agriculture.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has its own Working Group on Harmonization of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology, but there has been no progress in addressing issues around gene editing in many major food-producing countries, including Russia.
https://crispr-gene-editing-regs-tracker.geneticliteracyproject.org/russia-animals/
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Sounds like bureaucratic globbledeegook to me. The Soviet Union inherited a bloated and pernicious bureaucracy from czarist Russia and it doesn’t sound to me like a whole lot has changed. Thanks for the links.
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