KEY POINTS
- Russian food inflation remains rampant, with butter prices rising 30% since December last year. Sunflower oil and vegetables are among the other items seeing ongoing price rises.
- Russia’s central bank last month hiked interest rates to 21% — their highest level in over 20 years — but the high rates have shown few signs of dampening inflation so far.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Russia has exchanged “butter for guns,” as the country’s leadership has deflected blame for price rises onto “unfriendly” countries.
Well yeah, most people want to stay on the inside of upper-story windows.
Ah yes, the three classic Russian contemporary suicide methods: falling from a high-rise window, five point-blank shots to the back of the head, and poisoned tea.
Defenestration is probably one of the craziest thing about the Putin oligarchy. Like, that’s their calling card, and it fucking works at silencing dissent.
There was Vladimir Shklyarov who died last week, but he was on painkillers in anticipation of spinal surgery, and he slipped off his narrow balcony while having a smoke. His girlfriend saw it happen, and called the police. This was a horrible accident.
So naturally all the reports of his death include a bit about how one time two years ago he tweeted that he wanted the war in Ukraine to end and vaguely yearned for peace. The conservative news media is using any tragic accident to remind would-be Putin critics that if they step even one toe out of line, they could be murdered by the government. Which is how Putin wants it.