'The most wide-spread adulterated goods that are imported to Russia on the whole and the Urals in particular this year are vegetables, fruit, meat, and strong drinks. Most of these goods come from Central Asia. The customs officers from the Ural Customs Administration say they find faults with goods from China particularly frequently; this usually pertains to clothes, footwear, and toys. As regards Kazakhstan, problems are normally related to meat and fruit,’ Deputy Head of Ural Customs Administration Vadim Myasnikov announced at a press conference on August 17, 2007.

'Russia also gets a lot of illegally transported animals; this is often true of parrots and falcons. A little while ago, we had to confiscate a group of pigeons that had to be destroyed to prevent the spread of contagious diseases,’ he added.