Milk products are disappearing from Belarusian shops.
“There won't be a price surge for the basic consumption goods”, claimed today Uladzimer Adashkevich, Deputy Minister of Economy. He also refuted the rumors that the prices for milk products will allegedly be raised to the same level as in Russia.
The official's words are troubling, because such statements usually precede the actual price surge (there's no smoke without fire).
In Belarus prices for milk products are state-regulated in order to keep them at a relatively low level. In Russia, however, this is not the case. After the recent price surge in Russia the flow of milk product imported from Belarus has rapidly increased, with many illegal “shuttle traders” smuggling loads of milk and cheese over the virtually non-existent border.
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“Is everything really so bad?” asks Julia Darashkevich, photo correspondent of Nasha Niva on her blog. “I went to a local store for the first time in a week. It appears that the opposition websites are not kidding: all I could find was 6% “Savushkin product” milk, no butter, and cheese “was here yesterday but not today”. Julia asked her readers to tell her where one can find cheese in Minsk these days.
The comments are quite troubling. It looks like the milk products are really disappearing from the stores, and what is left getting more and more expensive. One of the commentators already proposed that one should expect “Milk” or “Cheese” revolution soon.
Kamientary