Estonian firms to hand out free milk amid Russia, EU sanctions

Estonian firms will hand out free dairy products to local residents in an effort to raise awareness of Russia, EU sanctions.

Members of the  Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture will be on Vabaduse Square in Tallinn on Wednesday, September 17.

A total of 1,000 liters of bottled milk will be handed out to passers by. The chamber called dairies to donate milk to the Food Bank too.A bottle of fresh milk will  also be donated to members of Estonia's Parliament and the Government.

Martin Vilan, a Chamber Agriculture and Commerce agriculture sphere specialist said the free handouts hope to draw attention to the effect Russian sanctions would have on Baltic dairy products.

"For some time it is great that milk is cheap, but when people are going to be unemployed in rural areas, it is not fun anymore," said Vilan.

Chamber members say businesses should be supported to survive the crisis, so that the sudden crisis would not cause long-term damage. They demand the state to allocate the means, and add that the state would be able to allocate from this year's budget 23 million euros to farmers.