Russians are feeling the pinch as Putin’s war rumbles on

The Russian Orthodox Church or state calendar doesn’t recognise 25 December as a special day: their Christmas is 7 January by their old calendar and, in any case, it is New Year’s Eve that is the real blow out. As households prepare the usual staples of Salad Olivier, Herring under a Fur Coat (smothered in mayonnaise), tangerines and champagne, it will be impossible for them to ignore a basic fact: everything is getting more expensive. Indeed, while the headline inflation rate is just under 10 per cent, the price of many basic foods have increased dramatically more. One Russian newspaper estimated that the price of a typical New Year’s Eve dinner has riven by almost 30 per cent, year on year.

Vladimir Putin tried to downplay this in his recent marathon press conference, blaming it on Russians’ own consumption, whether for meat or dairy products, even while acknowledging that, for example, the price of butter had risen by 33-34 per cent.