Five years after sanctions Russian cheeses getting top marks Hundreds of artisanal creameries have cropped up across Russia since President Vladimir Putin banned Western food imports in 2014. Elvira Kovtun made her first cheese in a pot in her kitchen outside Moscow in 2015. Kovtun, a housewife and mostly self-taught cheesemaker, eventually became so good that she and her husband decided to turn her passion into a business.