Russian families face 24% inf lation hike

SOARING prices and panic buying have become part of the new reality for ordinary Russians.

Tough Western sanctions are set to plunge the country into its deepest recession since the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago.

In a country where the average monthly salary is £520 – a quarter of that in the UK – the price of a new TV has increased from the equivalent of £150 in January to £350 now. Instant coffee has risen almost 70 per cent and sugar is up 30 per cent. Women’s hygiene products have been affected by supply shortages, and the cost of a pregnancy test has shot up by more than 80 per cent. There are also shortages of about 80 types of medicine, including insulin and painkillers.

Experts believe inflation will reach 24 per cent this year.

The Mail on Sunday spoke to a cross-section of Russians to discover how their lives have changed since the measures were introduced.

Oleg, a 33-year-old photographer, said: ‘Black markets have opened up. I’ve used a backstreet to change rubles to dollars, and hid them under my bed. I don’t know if the notes are real.’

He added: ‘I think this is what the Germans felt like with Hitler.’

Ivan, a 26-year-old programmer, wants to move abroad, but ‘can’t save enough money to emigrate’. Student Liza, 20, said: ‘There’s no sugar in shops and, as soon as it arrives, all the grandmas fight over it. People are buying up sanitary pads and selling them at extortionate prices online.’

More than 500 firms have pulled out of Russia, according to Yale University. Daria, a 32-year-old business owner, said the situation feels like a ‘betrayal’, adding: ‘Imagine everything is closed except Tesco and Primark, and half the shelves are just toilet roll. Russia is becoming North Korea.’