Stunning images inside Russian grocery store show dire situation

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CNN's Matthew Chance reports on the economic situation inside Russia after Western nations imposed crippling economic sanctions in retaliation for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

It appears the situation inside Russia is progressively getting worse as time goes by.

[Quixote1818]

1. That one lady putting like 30 lbs of sugar in her cart? I use about 1/2 lb of sugar a year. LOL nt

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2. I know, I thought

the same thing. I use very little sugar myself. Could be a contributing factor to lower life expectancy in Russia.

[Warpy]

4. A lot of people use it to make kvass

which is a fermented but low alcohol drink made from rye, rye flour, sprouted rye (if you're lucky), sugar, and bread yeast. Opening a kvass stand is one of those businesses just about anyone can do.

I can't imagine buying multiple five kilo bags and lugging them home just to sugar tea and bake an occasional cake. Then again, hoarding in 2020 had me convinced people were making toilet paper and peanut butter pies.

I've also seen a recipe for beet kvass, looks really interesting.

[captain queeg]

5. That was my first thought, some kind of home made booze.

Everyone thinks of the Russians as being big boozers, and I’m sure they are. But I read some statistics a few years ago about per capita consumption and I don’t even think they were in the top five. At time I think it was Korea that had the highest consumption rates, but maybe that was only looking at store bought booze.

[Warpy]

6. Vodka in Russia is cheap and plentiful if you're not terribly picky about brand

That's the intoxicant of choice. Kvass is different, it's very low in alcohol, kids can drink it. Were I ever to go there, I'd drink it, the stuff is said to be fizzy, a little sour, and very refreshing if it's made right.

[TomWilm]

7. In Eastern Europe you drink either normal tea, or tea with a bit less sugar in it ...

... and if you are the guest, you get an undrinkable amount of sugar in it. If there are a time of shortage, they swap the sugar with jam. Also most food get some sugar added for flavor...

[pwb]

3. Maybe they deserve to be hurting.

They are hurting millions and the Universe doesn't like that. Karma and such.