Destruction of more than 350 tons of food by the government this week angered Russians in a nation where some are struggling to feed themselves and many recall the norm of food shortages just a generation ago.
The food was burned and stream rolled , following a controversial decree by President Vladimir Putin ordering banned products from Europe and the United States to be eliminated before they can seep through the border.
"You can't just destroy food when there are so many people who have trouble feeding themselves," said activist , whose petition on Change.org had gathered over 320,000 signatures'.
"The media is gleefully showing how this food is being burned. We have a lot of people going hungry, a lot of people in poverty. There are veterans of (World War II) who remember the blockade" of Leningrad, when hundreds of thousands of people died of hunger, she said. "This is a mockery."
Moscow banned a wide range of meat, fruit and milk products from the United States and European countries a year ago in retaliation for Western sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and incursion into East Ukraine. Russia denies it is involved in the ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine, despite mounting evidence.
Last month, the government proposed destroying banned foodstuffs that were continuing to seep across the border and onto store shelves. Putin signed a decree, which went into effect Thursday, ordering the destruction of any such products that had made it across the border. The order does not impact food brought in by citizens for private use.
