The Russians began to treat the food embargo worse

More than a third of Russians do not approve of the counter-sanctions imposed by Russia on the import of some imported food, and the number of those dissatisfied with the ban is growing. This is evidenced by the VTsIOM study “The specifics of the perception of Russian residents of domestic and imported food products against the backdrop of economic sanctions” (available from RBC). The study involved 1.6 thousand respondents over the age of 18 from 40 Russian regions.

In 2014, when the food embargo was introduced, 84% of respondents spoke positively about it, and only 9% answered that they rather disapproved of this measure. In 2015, the ban on food imports was approved by 73%, and the share of dissatisfied rose to 20%. By 2021, only 57% of Russians said they approve of counter-sanctions, while the proportion of those who oppose restrictions has grown to 36% of respondents (7% found it difficult to answer).

Most dissatisfied with the ban on the import of food in Moscow and St. Petersburg: 50% of respondents in these cities do not approve of the food embargo. In other cities, the share of dissatisfied is about 36%, in rural areas - 30%.

What you need to know about food embargo

In August 2014, President Vladimir Putin , in response to EU and US sanctions , restricted the import of a wide range of foodstuffs into Russia. The ban included, in particular, the supply of beef, pork, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy products, cheese, vegetables, fruits and some other products. A year later, the counter-sanctions were extended to Albania, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Montenegro, and from January 2016 to Ukraine, and have since been repeatedly extended. The ban on the import of sanctioned products is valid until at least the end of 2021.

During the five years of sanctions, Russian “agriculture has made an incredible breakthrough,” Putin assessed the results of the food embargo at his annual press conference in late December 2018.

But analysts came to the conclusion that the consumer paid for import substitution: over the five years of the restrictions, products in Russia have risen in price, not only imported, but also domestic, the consulting company KPMG stated. According to its data, from 2013 to 2018, butter (+79%), frozen fish (+68%), white cabbage (+62%), pasta (+34%), sunflower oil (+35%) increased in price for consumers the most. %), wheat flour (+25%).