Cut food prices in a week or else, demands Putin

President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to cut the surging cost of basic foodstuffs within the next seven days amid unrest over falling incomes and rising unemployment.

Putin said that the price of sugar had gone up by 71 per cent, cooking oil by 23 per cent, grain by 19 per cent and flour by 13 per cent, although he did not specify over what timeframe. He was particularly infuriated by an ‘‘unacceptable’’ 10 per cent rise in pasta prices after a better-than-usual wheat harvest.

‘‘Resolve this within a week!’’ he told Maxim Reshetnikov, the economy minister, in comments aired on state television. ‘‘Real disposable incomes fell by what? Three? 4.3 per cent? People limit themselves because they have no money for basic food. What are you doing? This is the question! This is no joke.’’

Real incomes plummeted by 8 per cent from April to June, the biggest decline for 20 years, and 4.8 per cent from July to September.

Reshetnikov said annual inflation was due to hit almost 5 per cent per cent this year.

The president often scolds officials on-air in what analysts say is an attempt to deflect criticism from the Kremlin on to the government. The tactic appears to be increasingly ineffective, however. Putin’s trust ratings dropped to near historic lows this year amid widespread poverty triggered by lower global oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic. One in five Russians has a monthly income of less than 14,000 roubles (NZ$270), according to Rosstat, the state statistics service. A third say they consider themselves to be poor, a Kremlinlinked pollster revealed last week. – The Times