Russia has a peculiar way of responding when relations with another country deteriorate. In simple terms, when Moscow “gets angry” with a particular country, it sometimes reaches for a familiar set of political and economic pressure tools.

Europe has experienced this most visibly. As relations between Russia and the European Union deteriorated, Moscow increasingly used its gas exports as a political card. For years, European countries were vulnerable to this pressure because Russian gas was deeply embedded in their energy systems. After Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, however, Europe became increasingly unwilling to accept energy blackmail. When the gas card stopped producing the desired political effect, Russian state-aligned media began producing stories and videos suggesting that Europeans would freeze during the winter without Russian gas. The predictions did not exactly age well.

There is another familiar method when Moscow's relations with former Soviet republics deteriorate. Suddenly, agricultural products from those countries can become a matter of extraordinary concern for Russian regulators. A shipment of fruit, vegetables or other food products may unexpectedly be found to contain some supposedly problematic substance, after which........

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