Here is the original video from the channel INSIDE RUSSIA: ruclips.net/video/cl8QOaCltzk/видео.html I had to cut a lot of my reactions to keep this video a reasonable length. So if you want to watch his full video and then do your own price calculations, it is pretty interesting.
Watch your channel regularly and I watch Konstantine's Inside Russia regularly as well....and had previously watched this video. But Konstantine overlooked the aspect that you highlighted. Let me share an interesting and relevant story which takes place before "the wall came down". Got interested in Russia after taking a Russian history class in high school. Got even more excited after finding out my teacher chaperoned two dozen seniors to Russia every year. Was pretty bummed when I found out I couldn't go on the trip. Fortunately the following year I was studying abroad my freshman year in the UK and visited Russia during my spring break. Stayed in Russia for two weeks and toward the end of the trip my group nominated me to by a gift for our tour guide. Everyone gave me about 10 rubles and I set out looking for something cool to express our thanks. Given that everything was written in Cyrillic I couldn't read any store signs. So I went out quite literally window shopping...would go from store to store pressing my nose up against the window to see what was inside. Came upon a jewelry shop and thought it might be worth a closer look. So I went inside. There were two long two rows...one for rings and necklaces, the other for watches. I've always been more knowledgeable about watches so I focused on watches. Walking down the row I was incredibly unimpressed with the quality of watches as there was no way they would have ever sold in the West.....big and clunky yet gaudy. Looked like Fred Flintstone had made the watches himself then painted them with gold Krylon. At any rate, I'll never forget the very last watch I came across. It was actually decent and it cost $62.50 in rubles which was only about $100.00 in US dollars. So I took note of the 15-20 people already waiting to be helped and I kinda figured out "Who's next?" while I was waiting. When my turn came, I raised my hand then pointed to the watch. EVERYONE made a big fuss as they rushed over and crowded around me....as if I were Elon Musk buying the Maltese Falcon! I had just turned 18 at the time and thought it was weird at first. Later when I had a chance to reflect, I realized just how poor Russian citizens were. They probably had to save up for YEARS just to afford what Americans would've considered an average watch. To the point you raised in this video, $100 American dollars is different in different countries. The Russian condition has improved...but not too much.
At times during the year including when I just went to the grocery store a week ago they had broccoli for $8 to $15 so $6 is actually lower than it is in America.
Jake, thank you for the shout out. You missed a couple points. 1. The exchange rate that day was 61 and some kopeks just like I posted in the video. 2. A good salary in Russia is around 50 000 RUR or $850 per month. That is GOOD salary. Many people work for as much as 25 000 - 30 000 per month. PS I learned much new about myself in the comments 🤭
Konstantine is definately not supporting the war in ukraine and for someone living in an autocratic country where people dissagreeing with the government has a habit of being poisoned i would say he is pretty vocal about his stance. He has called out the government in many of his videos for the hardship his country is experiencing due to the event as he calls it (he refuses to call it a special military operation and instead calls it "the event"). In my opinion he is a brave and noble man trying to do his bid to stop the bloodshed by showing that there are people who doesnt agree with pulter.
It not really people who "disagree" with the government, it’s people who challenge the government to a point where they become a threat, that tend to disappear or be imprisoned for no reason or even assassinated.
His videos are in english, they aren't for internal consumption. It's on purpose, he is pointing out his political views (he is an economist). He is somewhat protected as he works on gas business. He is smart enough to be copying the controlled oposition guys. It's also possible that he is from the controlled oposition for foreign consumption.
Kostya's channel is great, he started working in Tashkent, Uzbekistan at the beginning of the invasion but his family has been back in Moscow this whole time. He's good about not contradicting the Russian government in ways that would get him in trouble but he's been pretty damned brave.
@@yaelz6043 Just 15 years in prison for anyone convicted of spreading "false information" about the Russian military. It's a new law passed by the Russian Duma following the invasion of Ukraine.
@@stephenbrand5661 so according to you there is now a law against nazi propaganda and that this is evil. Cool story, still not seeing anyone being arrested for speaking out against Putin.
Lol. I am from Russia, 100 km south of St. Petersburg. Firstly, bloggers in Russia can say whatever they want and can call a war a war or whatever they like. Actually, a lot of Russian bloggers who support the war call it a war and criticize army and authorities for being "too soft" on Ukraine. Secondly, in reality prices in Russia did go up, but very far from "skyrocketing". Idk, maybe you can find some super expensive butter for 15 dollars, but the kind of butter I'm buying is now somewhere around 2.6 dollars. It used to be around 1.9 or 2 dollars before Ukraine. Thirdly, average salary for Russia is around 1160 dollars. However, this market is in Moscow, where salaries and prices are higher. Average salary for Moscow is around 2111 dollars.
An other Russian I recently started viewing shared his findings in his local market in St Peterburg, named Niki Proshin. Inflation on many goods but also Shrinkflation of goods getting sneakily smaller.
@@ДмитрийВолков-ю1ц 10 eggs in a box have been a thing for years in Russia, trust me i've lived here for 9 years now as an expat Australian. buying eggs here in a box of 10 is nothing new. Also he showed eggs in a 6 pack which is not new either.
Konstantin has a very good channel, he is worth watching. He tells everyone to "read between the lines" because he cannot say exactly what he wants or he could be arrested inside Russia. So he speaks his mind with some good humor, and you understand what he means when he speaks against the war.
@@VladislavDoroshuk hello from your Serbian sister! It's true they believe anything they are told by the news. There is a channel called Anna from Russia and she lives in a Siberian city and she goes to the grocery stores and malls and shows you the prices.
Thank you!! I was totally confused when I saw all these products still on shelves when Konstantines video aired. The problem is the American public “Think” all the companies pulled out, it needs to be brought to the general publics attention that many companies are just flat out not leaving or using their words carefully to make an appearance of leaving. Great work bringing this to light! Konstantine has a couple other videos where he walks through malls and shows what is still open and everything that is closed. While most western brands were closed there was a surprising amount still open.. like LEGO, The GAP, Banana Republic among others. Cheers!
@@scottyd3138 Lego says they stopped shipments in March and they closed some stores on the 3rd of June due to supply issues. All their stores in Russia are operated by inventive retail group
Really appreciate the attitude that we must not treat business as usual with Russia as business as usual. Supporting Ukraine in this war means demanding more from our companies and them acknowledging that things won’t, and indeed shouldn’t, go back to normal even once the war finishes.
If you want global companies doing fake politics, you're gonna get a whole lot of shit. Imagine if Russia was the biggest economy then these companies would side with Russia and would have stopped operating in America/ Ukraine /EU... careful what you wish for
Russia made it legal to import goods from third parties even if the manufacturer bans sales into Russia. This makes it hard to know if something on sale in Russia is because the company is doing business in Russia or just unable to control their product distribution through these third party distributors and smugglers. It can become obvious if a third party distributor suddenly increases orders but it isn’t always as easy to tell, depending on the size of the distributor and the markets they serve.
during the cold war and the russian invasion of Afghanistan russia was sanctioned by u.s. so instead wheat shipments from the u.s. were offloaded in poland and then transhipped to russia
Except companies come right out and say they are still supplying "staples." Jake didn't read the full Kellogg's statement but at 18:11 they actually said they had stopped shipping Pringles. So we are to believe all those Pringles have been smuggled or come through third parties. Maybe. Or maybe time for "woke" American employees to get serious about other victims of oppression.
The conversion rate of the ruble is artificially increased by Putin blocking most exchanges and burning foreign currencies to buy rubles at a high rate. It's meaningless since you can not legally trade rubles for dollars, it's a short-sighted policy to give the impression of stability. The rate at the black market, more indicative of the currency's real value, would be interesting to see.
I apologize in advance for bad English, I write through Google translator. Everything you see about prices is most likely caused by the desire of speculators in large supermarkets to get super profits. At the Sennoy market in St. Petersburg, you can buy tomatoes for 60 rubles, apples for 50, cucumbers for 25, cauliflower for 40, nectarines for 60. The price of cheese, cottage cheese, meat, chocolate in supermarkets has practically dropped to the pre-war value. The departure of Coke and McDonald's doesn't upset me at all.
1) Most of the prices are per kilogram, so divide by 2 to get approximate price per pound. 2) There was (and may still be) a lot of Western products in warehouses in Russia when the sanctions hit, but once they are gone, if the company has stopped shipping to or producing products Russia, they are gone.
Just wanted to say, that this Russian guy Konstantin is a decent person and he is not complaining about the prices in the supermarket, but reporting, what's happening in there overall. And yes, the supermarket is open during 8-24.
P&G Pepsi & Coke needs to be given serious sanction breaking fines or financial penalties along with user backlash. With respect to denying Russia essentials, yes I agree with Jake. We simply need to look at what Ukraine is being denied.
Coca-Cola has pulled out of Russia. Back in the day C-C supplied nazi Germany right up until December '41, that's when the German bottler invented Fanta as a replacement. May be they learned from their history...
Your first sentence is right on; all companies still selling in Russia need to be "sanctioned" -- fined, and boycotted. Supply chains may be long (months, maybe) but there are 140 M Russian consumers, and you can bet a lot of these goods were sent well after the War started. As for "essential items", I am in agreement with Jake. And what is more "essential" to survival than the heating oil/gas that Russia is denying Europe? We need to be as draconian here as Russia, or this War is extended. . . . thx for your concise comment, MDC.
@@Doso777 F--k sanctions. These companies are breaking "Morality" and bouying the morale of Russia. I stand with Ukraine and human lives, not with greedy Corporations.
Before the pandemic my local (New Brunswick, Canada) grocery store was open until midnight. Convenient for retail workers back when shops were open until 8 or 9. It’s currently 10 pm.
A lot of people in Russia do their shopping at night, the temperatures are cooler than the daytime and the sun never really sets. It's called White nights.
100% agree that Russian common people need to feel the pain of the average Ukrainian - stop selling U.S./EU products in Russia! We need to begin boycotting all these companies here in the U.S. till they hold up their end of the bargain - damn the profits, damn the brand name, - Ukrainians are dying and for what? Putin ego!
Yes I'm with you, lets call them out at every turn. Only problem is nobody knows about this, so we must try to make people aware, otherwise we will be feeling the effects for nothing, while Corporations feel nothing, just Business as usual.
Burger King never left. Also Continental tires. And another German business is still producing. They also have to be called out. Money over human life an Animals. Love of money is the route of all evil. This is also how the Super Global Rich play their games, like we play checkers. Killing people. They're demonic.
I totally agree with boycotting companies who appear to support these regimes for profit. On that note how about boycotting Mercedes, Porche, Nestle among others for getting their fingers dirty with the Hitler's Nazis. Maybe avoid buying that VW for the same reason and more recently for committing giant fraud against its customers by lying about emissions. Personally, whenever I find out about shit like this, I cross these companies off my list.
@@leonieromanes7265 he is I've been subrd sinced the first groceiry run he put on RUclips maybe two months ago I feel so bad for him life is BS sometime u just gotta roll with the punch's
I've been following Konstantine for months. I get the impression he is completely honest and legit but necessarily cautious about what he says. We don't have to agree with every detail but I believe he is speaking from the heart. On comparing median salaries, my country (Australia) is roughly 3x Russia.
Also been following him for months now he seems very honest and i find he's channel very informative. I cant say i agree with hes political and religious views.....but thats me...... In any way its always good to listen to other people's views......
I too am from Australia. Worked in China for 6+ years. I had a very good salary in China that would be mediocre in Australia. If that was all we compared, clearly Australia is better. But if I factored in cost of transportation, cost of groceries, cost of rent... Suddenly China is WAY better. And you got to be careful with apples-to-oranges comparisons. Such as.... Apples and oranges. What the climate is like will have a big impact on what food is available. In Australia I mostly ate dairy and red meat. Such a diet would be more expensive in China, not because food is more expensive, just because _that_ food is more expensive.
I live in Russia, and let me tell you - there’s no way the median salary is 110000 rubles. 50000 is more reasonable. I don’t know many average people making more than that each month.
Konstantin's channel is a great view into what is happening in Russia, and he relies on demonstration through video rather than trying to convince people of what is going on. He is most definitely in the minority in his country, not supporting the invasion or ongoing war in Ukraine, but like all Russians, is subject to the punitive legislative scheme and risks jail or retribution with every video. Cheers to you for using his video, this will hopefully be a lot of crossover for most of us, but hopefully new people will find both channels this way.
Niki Proshin also just released a video on these issues. Not every brand of butter is secured, but a lot are. There's also a lot of shrinkflation sneaking in, like milk going from 1l to 800ml.
Both are decent folk bringing us truth about the effect of war and sanctions on common people that stands in sharp contrast with the muscle flexing of Russian regime. I think I'd go broke with prices like this. In my country I pay 2 dollars for 250g brick of butter and 60 cents for 1l of milk.
He's in St. Petersburg, Konstantine is in Rostov-on-Don - just outside the warzone. There is a real pecking order in Russia, after all Niki will never have to worry about getting drafted.
Constantine is a good guy, I have watched him for over a year. The conversion rate is artificially low. I think 100-120 RU to 1 dollar would be more realistic. Also their prices are per Kilo or 2.2lb. I buy Broccoli in Cali for $1-1.79 per lb ($2.20 to $3.98 kilo). So their prices are pretty much the same as in the US. The butter situation is that pensioners in Russia make very little money and a small piece of butter would be easy to steal.
Yeah, sanctions seem to be a mixed bag. On one hand California has a high cost of living and a 15 dollar minimum wage. The average Russian probably isn't used to American prices for goods. Sanctions do seem to make things more expensive and harder to come by, but there seems to be a lot of ways to skirt sactions anyway. If sanctions are suppose to make Russians mad and their government, they seem to have only made it more frustrating to live. I think most would rather pay 15-20% more for something than risk time in the gulag for participating in activism or protest.
I've been to RU and they make about 1/3 of what we do here. Labor costs are extremely low. I've seen swarms of people with brooms hand sweeping the streets..
Hi Jake, I enjoyed your videos and agreed with your view. I feel the critical success factor to win economically against Russia is a drop in oil prices which I don't see happening due to U.S. oil companies raking in profit instead of ethically obligated to support the U.S. government and increase oil production. If only the government make oil production a national necessity, then there might be a chance of winning.
Simple economics tells you that when a resource is at a high price, you produce to make the profit. So why aren’t oil companies making oil? Regulation. If they could drill and barrel and sell it they would. They’re publicly traded companies, they have to profit. How long has it been since a new refinery has been built? Over twenty years. The problem with the price of gas is the government in the marketplace, not to mention Biden ran on a platform of eliminating fossil fuels. We went from an exporter of oil to an importer because the government took away the resource.
I remember some five to six years ago when I came to Russia, onions were at times as cheap as 12 rubles per kilo. That was in the south west. When I was in Yakutsk, in the north east, they were way more expensive, something over 40 rubles if I remember correctly. In the video it looks like a lot of basic products have seen a price increase of 100 per cent (doubling), one has to wonder how this hits the far east provinces.
This information is very upsetting. I agree with you, Jake, we need to stop, STOP, allowing these huge companies from supplying Russia with the products, and more, as desolated in this video. Oh, boy, am angry. Letters going out tomorrow to P&G objecting to their doing business with Russia. Letters going to my gov’tal reps telling them this citizen is mad as hell that our sanctions are not all inclusive and they need to do something about this. Thanks for the video, Jake. As always a great job ❣️
Yes send them letters!! But i have to warn you, the answers will not be kind to your sense of self… those are STOCKED products, bought and paid by the supermarket chain BEFORE the companies checked out of russia. Didn’t you think of that?
What they have in the country remained there, and businesses/factories were seized by the govt. They'll have some products for several months just from stock alone.
I live in Russia and I see all these western products in the supermarket everytime I go. I assumed they had a lot of stuff in stock for several months and I hope to see some stuff running out soon, but so far I can't think of anything that has totally gone. But I did notice recently that the shelf space for coca cola has shrunk and now it's about 50% coke and the rest is Russian made kvas. So hopefully this means the lack of western products will come later this summer.
Yes I live in Russia too, Perecrestok the supermarket featured is an upmarket store in my opinion , a little like Waitrose in Britain. Magnet is the biggest chain where most "ordinary " Russians shop. Each time I visit there seems to be a little less of certain products, its definitely having an effect . I also noticed yesterday our huge Decathlon store had shut, I hope its not just a stocktaking day !!!!
Excellent video,I couldn't agree more with you, that these companies that continue to supply Russia with western products be named and shamed.Perhaps a website could be set up to do this,and have their products boycotted.
There would still be a quantity of foreign food and products for sale due to stock still available from the central food warehouses. It's only been 3 months of sanctions so there will still be inventory in the ware houses. Especially anything with a long shelf life such as Coke Cola and Washing Detergent and stuff like that. I have worked in such Warehouses and all Christmas Confectionery comes in from August onwards , months before Christmas so therefore there could be a stock of certain products stored in the Central Distribution Warehouses that would have been bought before the sanctions. But as stocks of these products get low, the price will increase even more. Certain products would have a six month inventory.
Agree. As pointed out, nearly no customers, just a few women carrying baskets with a couple of items. Those prices are not currently affordable. In the west coke would be sold out in a day with people filling shopping trollies to the max and going back for seconds and thirds, then (if in Russia) selling it on the street for double when it runs out. Probably their "koka-kola" is sold outside a modern (empty) mall for less than half these prices, and most shoppers will not buy American anyway. Zero demand, and still on existing stocks after 3 months seems pretty likely.
@@kustomzone coca cola is their smallest issue. A l of gasoline in russia is twice as cheap as in Germany, but wages in russia are not 2 times smaller, but 10 times…
Thank you Jake for this vid. What you said @ 23:08 +/- is correct; we need essential items to vanish from stores in order to evoke dissent and political change in Russia. It isn't any more "cold hearted" than to deny the people of Europe heating oil in winter, or -- more dramatically -- to deny common innocent people their LIVES. Russia needs to pay dearly, and these American companies owes us an explanation, or we should all BOYCOTT their Greed.
I sanction them by not buying their products, and I’m far from alone doing so. It would be a nice irony for these companies finding themselves losing market shares “at home”, where they are safe unlike remaining in Russia.
Jake, I completely empathize with your strong reaction(s) to the continued economic involvement of U.S. firms in Russia. In principle, I agree with you too. Ideally, the nation of Russia would be completely deprived of any and all forms of economic benefit from any Western nation that is aligned with Ukraine. However, the single biggest source of benefit to Russia, and in particular to the ruling regime, is the exportation of hydrocarbon products in large quantities to Central and Eastern Europe. The crude oil will be cut sooner or later, but curtailing purchasing of the natural gas is apparently beyond the capacity of the German leadership to stomach. I am not an economist, but my sense is that: if all exports of hydrocarbon-related products to all EU and NATO member states were ended, the impact on the Russian economy and on Putin's capacity to wage war would be enormous; probably an order of magnitude or even TWO compared to the current impacts. On the other hand, if every single consumer good produced under license in Russia, or imported into Russia were cut, it would very likely have minimal increased impact on the Russian economy or Putin's capacity to wage war. The truly horrible part of all this is that Germany was warned for years by various outspoken American leaders not to go forward with more and more reliance on Russian exports, but they did, even AFTER Russia first began its war on Ukraine in 2014 and even after the MH17 mass murder. I agree with your outrage, but the time for outrage to have been truly beneficial to Ukraine was years ago when there was still the capacity to create deterrence by providing Ukraine with substantial military backing. We'd have to go back and consult Obama era policies to learn why that was not done.
A LOT of german officials are in Putin's pocket. You spend a couple of hundreds of million in bribery and you get the country hooked. A LOT of this a lot went to finance the Greta's of the world, to act as a "useful idiots", to promote mostly useless green energy and thus weaken the West. A lot also went to the US for anti fracking movement.
Ukraine had a lot of corruption before Zelenskyy was elected. It was a battle he took on before the invasion. Still something to be settled before Ukraine is admitted into EU or NATO.
I'd rather have sales continue for those companies but then add a "Russia Tax" on top of everything which goes straight towards Ukrainian humanitarian help. That way companies don't permanently lose marketshare without even having any significant impact on the outcome of the war. And Ukraine would get a nice income stream as long as Russians keep buying Redbull. Same with Russian energy, if every barrel is taxed with 150% by the EU, then the EU gets more money than Russia for that same energy. And other energy exporters will have an easier time competing against Russian energy too.
The Russia Tax could be also be implemented at a lower rate for countries with close ties with Russia as well (such as Belarus). That way importing stuff from there isn't as beneficial as it is now.
THIS this is the best idea I’ve seen. I don’t agree with punishing or depriving the Russian citizens of things just because their leader is a not so great person, it’s not their fault.
While idea is good and made me laugh at thought of Russian paying tax to support the country they attack. Still think Russians need to feel the weight of doing nothing allowing invasions of neighbours over and over without consequences only encourages them to stay ignorant and not stand up against dictator leadership like Putin. When Russia people should be having their own *Maiden* to remove Corrupt leadership.
I used to do merchandising (fancy term for stocking stores) for coca-cola... trust me there is going to be a TON of back stock in warehouses there, not even counting what might be still in shipping containers in ports. Additionally, the bottlers are likely local and they manage their own distribution. They will run out, but it may take some time.
If you say to someone NOT in Moscov that AVERAGE Russian has 110 000 rubles per month he hit you hard :). THE AVERAGE wage in Russia is about 50 000 (for some regions even less) rubs per month. Retirement pay can be 12 000 rubs per month. It is about 230 USD.
And a regular unqualified worker like a cleaner, or warehouse worker, makes like 20k right? That seems to be what new labourers make, when I read about their phlight on Dvach.
@@Slavic_Goblin How many then? Come on bruh from Siberia to the Bearing Sea there is probably a hundred toilets max! On account of the ground is always frozen.😁
You know what Jake, I'm Polish and I have been living in Australia since year 2000. I recall visiting Poland in 2009, years after Poland joined the EU, a democracy unlike Russia, no sanctions there, and their prices for food, technology and clothing were as much as what I paid in Australia already then. In fact, imported goods had the main price tag in EU and underneath there was a recalculation to Polish Zloty based on average conversion currency, while of course people have been earning Polish wages: The cost of 2 lemons per hour for the retail assistant selling those lemons. The only change today is you, i.e. a westerner noticing it...I guess better late than never.
That's right, as Polish living in Poland I confirm. We just have lower housing costs, but this is obvious, almost nobody can afford like $1500 of monthly rent, because $1500 monthly in Poland it is a really good wage for an average person. A mean wage is about $1000 monthly (after taxes). If somebody earns $2000 monthly (after taxation) he is considered to be an upper - middle class or even higher class. Let's say, that you can rent an average apartment in larger city for, say, $500 monthly.
@@pokrec Yep, I recall, mum was a nurse at a public hospital Praski and my phone bill was higher than her monthly wage... Poland is not the only democratic country with these issues. I wish westerners understood that is why the wealth distribution is in their favour, many western supermarkets invest and open stores in countries like Poland to, with full awareness, make money on that very difference between payable wages and charge on products - these are astronomical profits that they would never get in nations like Australia, US, etc. I actually looked at the cost of broccoli yesterday here and it was 7 AUD buks that translates to similar prices as showed in this video in Russia. The minimum wage is about 21 AUD buks per hour tho. We are affected by inflation, cold weather and flood damage in agricultural regions in Australia at the moment and 7 buks for a kilo of broccoli during winter is a bit. I am actually thinking how cheap life had to be in Russia before sanctions, as if Jake is correct, and prices doubled since war in Ukraine, life in Russia was more affordable than in many western and EU countries. I wish to see more videos from supermarkets around the world as it is very eye opening.
To be fair American goods are cheap as we have corporate mega farms that produce absurd amounts of stuff (and put smaller farms out of business) plus our food is heavily subsidized
@@jjcoola998 Yes, but try to eat only organic food. You will very soon feel how it is to live in, say Russia. American food is widely known to be of not very high quality. You can have either quality or low price...
@@blackpaint9093 I hear you, I believe patrol in Australia is cheaper than Europe as well. I was going to edit my response above as a kilo of broccoli, not organic or anything, was 12 AUD yesterday...that is over 400 rubles. Perhaps, Americans have it much cheaper than us as well 🤔
I absolutely agree with you and in the West we need to boycott these companies, Proctor and Gambles particularly. Their offices and factories in the West need blockading.
i remember visiting a "high end grocery" some years ago and they had truffles for sale. they were in a polycarbonate box with a lock. being a locksmith at that time, i could immediately tell that the lock was a joke. i pulled out a pocket pick i carried with me, and demonstrated to the manager how easy it was to open the lock. he just shrugged and said it wasn't his place to question upper management or make changes that he wasn't told to make.
For those who don't know/don't remember math classes 20 years ago. Median is "half are higher, half are lower." The median house price is the price greater than half the homes in the area, the median salary is more than what half the population makes, etc. 71.9 million Russians are employed, so 35.95 million make the median salary or less.
Konstantine is very good at explaining the situation in a way that he won’t get hauled off to prison! He has strict rules for live chats, so big brother won’t shut him down. Worth watching. One video from another person in Russia showed green potatoes which are poisonous. They were cheaper, but you don’t want to throw away half a potato because it’s green!
I had tweeted about German tire manufacturer Continental staying open in Russia. They are probably supplying the Ruzzian army with quality tires, and taking the money home to Germany
Add KFC and Coca-Cola and Pepsi and Frito Lay and Pringles and Danone and Toyota and Valve and literally every Chinese company and Asus and Microsoft's Xbox and others to the list as well and don't buy anything from Alibaba
I think the best course of action is to organize a boycott of any brands which continue to sell their products in Russia and instead choose to buy a competitor. If P&G, Coca-cola, Pepsi, and others are afraid of losing their Russian market, we need to show them that they can't have their cake and eat it too. If they won't willingly give up on the Russian market, they can choose to lose their American customers instead.
@@charlesjay8818 Yes and no. Now I feel compelled to talk about and rant in a political fashion about generalizations and stupidities in America. 🤓Most shortcomings of American people come from ignorance to the events in reality. Americans are generally very kind (to my surprise as an American), but where things go wrong is in the riots and crowd/mob mentality in certain silly protests. Also, the overreactions from sensitive people mostly on the farther left to many things like the unjust murder of a few black men and shootings, as well as far-right racist Trump supporters and science deniers, they cause division and just not a wonderful time for the country. If most Americans were not ignorant to the atrocities and corruptions committed by the American government and mega-corporations, then they would be outraged and slowly make less excuses to stop living their peaceful lives under a status quo that is supported by militaristic foreign policy destabilizing countries together with evil Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and child labor in the DR of Congo for our phones, among countless examples. If people on the right who complain about immigrants crossing the border knew that the whole ordeal was caused SOLELY by the federal government using American tax dollars and imperialism from the 20th century to set up right wing dictators in Latin America, then they would be outraged morally as well. Literally everything Americans complain about is the result of the mistakes and evil deeds of the government within the last century. Gangs became more powerful after they were sent back to their countries where the locals cannot contain them like in America. With brutal American-backed dictators and gangs destabilizing Latin America, the people have no choice but to flee to America in hopes of survival and a better life.
I hardly ever drink sodas so this won't effect me, but these companies are so rich they don't have to operate in Russia at all. If they make a big tadoo about not operating in Russia then they're just greedy.
To be honest, I feel for the average Russian citizen as they didn't ask for this and it is obvious they are not allowed to express dissent, so it's very difficult to ascertain real support for the special operation versus perceived support.
Moreover, in current situation, Russian state became basically the sole arbiter of exchangeable currencies. Private businesses that weren't involved in oil and gas were shot down by the sanctions. Population's wellbeing is reduced and poorest people can rely only on the state. Putin waged war against NGOs, but wasn't as effective as these sanctions. While the standard of living is falling and there are no saviour but the state, "speaking up" becomes more difficult, not less. Internal military forces (that have nice German equipment to beat up any gathering), police and tortures are just a "nice" final touch to preserve the state of affairs. The main idea is that the people are lacking necessary political and judicial powers. Now they lack economic power as well.
This Perekrestok chain is also even more expensive than Moscow's Azbuka Vkusa, a premium chain that is only in Moscow, and no one ever goes there, especially now that they've started jacking the prices to make an easy buck. The other stores don't do that. I can only wish I had the same problems as an unemployed university student living only off of $250/mo scholarship because I can afford any food I desire, except maybe the delicacies like caviar. I am waaaaaay too far from starving and the sanctions only benefit us, as they did back in 2014 when this entire bizarre sanction spree started. No one cares about some expensive shipments of broccoli either. In reality, you can gain quality mass on a budget in Russia if you go to the gym, let alone afford all the food you need. The prices aren't scary at all because they're unrealistic due to Perekrestok's hubris.
_"P&G said last month it was ending all new capital investments in Russia and significantly reducing its portfolio to focus on basic hygiene, health and personal care items"_ ...And junk food, I guess.
I followed Konstantin's channel got a while as he's anti-war. Once he posted a picture of him at the airport with the title "I am leaving Russia". It turns out he was just going on a business trip. I commented (perfectly politely) that this was a little misleading as all the comments had assumed he was fleeing Russia. My comment vanished. So, I put it again. That vanished too. I put a test comment mentioning that my other comments had vanished and he replied saying he never deletes comments. It turns out he has moderators deleting any comment that isn't pure praise So yeah, anti-war but still censoring and lying in typical Russian style.
David, in last video he asked the mods to stop deleting the comments to see how it goes, i think they are a bit overzealous, and quite rightly so his freedom is at stake, but maybe too overzealous. Also you can email him directly if your comments keep getting deleted, i think his email is in the community section.
@@becr9369 Yeah, I appreciate his channel has grown quickly and they wouldn't be the first mods to get carried away. Plus being anti-war is dangerous in Russia. But he said to me "I don't delete comments". Now, that's not technically a lie because he had his mods doing it for him but that's hugely misleading and I simply don't trust him anymore.
Check out the concept of controlled oposition. He does work in the gas business, his house is quite big and confy, he does vids in english for external consumption. But hey... It's just a thought.
@Flower Power - I'm sure if you stop watching Konstantin people in Ukraine will be grateful and benefit greatly. (This should also take care of the head swiveling [vertigo?] and guilt.)
@icky Vicky - He lives in Russia. Should he refuse to pay taxes?? Do you seriously think that would stop the war?? Don't you pay taxes in your country??
Hey Jake. Thanks for putting out these videos. Really enjoy them and appreciate your keeping up with the situation! I agree that without complete participation from western companies, and by extension, a lack of availability of goods to the typical Russian, it will be difficult for bring about positive change there. That said, I'd like to suggest a couple ideas (could be completely off base). First, is it possible there's still product in the pipeline that hasn't dried up yet? I always check the expiration date of products (even here in the US) and it seems mostly like it's usually many months or even a year plus in advance. And two, is it possible Russian manufacturers are counterfeiting American products to make things seem like everything is still normal?
Hi Jake - This video is really on point. The economy of Russia is the size of the US state of Texas. It's not like their economy is critical to the survival of these companies. Just to add something, the Ruble to USD exchange rate is artificially low due to RCB currency controls. If the Ruble were allowed to float it could be closer to 120:1.
@@johnaware9434 Gold in the ground is worthless only if you mine it and sell it then you get something.That doesn't change the currency value.It is Russian hard currency that is spent to support the value of the Ruble and that doesn't help average Russian because they don't intend to exchange their currency to a dollar.price Inflation in Ruble is what matters to them because they get paid in Ruble.
"Russia's ban effect" is mostly felt in Europe. Russia together with Belarus) was major supplier of CHEAP wood, cheap fuel, cheap gas, cheap grain, cheap fertilizer, cheap construction materials (like cement). With Russia (and Belarus) cut off from supply grid the prices of simple but essential commodities like fuel, construction materials, gas, electricity, food (related to fuel and fertilizer shortages) are RISING in a neverending spiral. Everything is connected and the sanctions really are shaking the stability of european economy
About this Konstantin: Last week he said that ”he does not understand at all the fuzz about Russian and Ukrainian wheat, and how it can have big effect on world’s food prices.” Next day he said, that he has studied economics for 7 years in US and Russia. That does not make any sense, and sure rings my alarm bells.
@@Digitaaliklosetti 7 years of economics, and he says ”I really don’t understand why this wheat crisis in Russia and Ukraine has any affect to the other countries in the world”..?
Once again, Jake, your reporting is excellent. Nevertheless, this video chilled my bones. In America, the food prices are also pretty bad, so it is frightening to imagine how much worse the Russians have it.
@@shulyakav In Russia a lot of products are actually kinda good and most don't have GMOs added to them. Most products will have on the label "Bez GMO" no GMOs whereas a lot of products in my country or other western countries are genetically modified so they can get more of something from a lot less, however, quantity doesn't equal quality.
The Russians wouldn't have it as bad as the USA mainly due to cheap energy and fertilisers and other cultivation chemicals for growing crops, that said it did rise and now its falling, America hasn't seen the peak in price rises yet
And to imagine the average Russian citizen earns a third of Americans. God. Well, Russian problems will require Russian solutions. We should do what we can to expedite that solution. What'd we have Langley for.
I will make sure to forward this video to everyone who has a sence of morality. Hope people start their own boycotts. Would like to have more information on brands and Corporations still doing business in Russia. Thanks for this video.
The real question is then would people stop supporting these companies in Countries outside of Russia if they know they are basically still supporting Russia with the killing of civilians & children?
Hey man, those products you see in the video still being sold, were stocked up before the western companies checked out. The supermarket chains probably still have warehouses full of coke bottles, that doesn’t mean that coca cola is still doing business in russia
@@zedudli Empty "Coke" bottles could end up being recycled with "Bogus Coke" as has happened before in parts of the world where copyright enforcement is lax or nonexistent. When living in or visiting some countries I learned to be very careful about what I was buying. I've even seen restaurants with names like "Kernel Chiken and Humbergar Queen!"
@@onionpie52 there are a few, just google “list of companies that still operate in russia”; I’ve tried copypaste some of them in this comment but youtube removed it after I’ve posted it
According to the Russian central bank, the current exchange rate is 58 rubles, but you don't get that rate. Exchange offices take 70 rubles for the dollar , means the prices are even higher .
Jake, a particular point. Coca Cola could have licensed a local pop producer to make Coca Cola. Corporate may have cut the contract, BUT the local manufacturer may still be producing product by violating the terms, but the Russian govt has already said they will not enforce trademark or patents of any company participating in sanctions. The same could be for a number of products.
Average salary is Russia is 56,280 rubles that is $940 (that's too much, I don't believe it) , and the median salary is 40,245 rubles that is $670. But the ruble right now is super strong because of exceptionally high oil prices. So it's not gonna stay this way for long
.Average salary in Moscow is $1500 per month after tax and most of people do not have mortgages and other expenses like we have in the US. Overall, USA provides to its people about 30% more compared to Russia. It used to be 3 times better in the US in 1993 when I moved here. The situation is turning around in USA vs Russia comparison during my life span. I am in the US and I am very concerned the direction my country is going.
Some of the largest Supermarkets in Russia are French (Auchan) and German (Metro) and Dutch (Spar), and should not have a problem bringing in Coca Cola or Gellette from their homelands.
Yes they would because the roote for trucks passes the polish-bielorussian border and there are activists there to make sure they don't pass. That being said, they can go thru other routes into russia, just way more expensive (gas, state of rodes, time, etc).
@@wolfvale7863 how do u think it is extra easy to buy ilegal stuff in EU... customs... 😂😂 EU is a burocrat dream... There is no control of that level...
@@FilmFactry no, the french aren't but they aren't checking if those items are heading into russia either. EU is a burocracy mess and has very litle control of market bessides law making.
I wonder how proud they will be about their ability to endure hardship once the sanctions actually set in. Right now they still have 'large' stocks of goods and equipment although are starting to eat into them.
It's not a question of pride but survival. And the ones who survive the soviet crash its a pride and its rightfully so, their enginuity was what made them not starve to death. No need to vilify everything russian.
@@puraLusa The United States helped the Russians very much after the soviet collapse. They'd have likely folded entirely if it was not for the US. The US also helped the Russians very much during and after WWII. This time the US is not there to bail them out, probably.
@@puraLusa Yes, true, but that would have still been in vain without external help. My point is that they do not fully understand the situation they are going into and it is ironic in a tragic kind of way.
Coca Cola is manufactured as a concentrated "syrup" in only one factory in the world and only bottled in the various countries. It's incredibly cheap to make so it can be sold at whatever price each market can afford. So it's possible they have tons of the concentrate remaining there and can still make a good profit selling at a lower price. Other beverages are probably similar. So they're different in some ways to your typical product.
1,5 $ for a butter. Have no idea what you're talking about, dude. Recently the prices for everything actually decreased. Not for much but the difference is noticeable.
This is one of the most enlightening videos you have prepared and posted about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thank you for exposing the collaborationist American food and beverage companies. They should be boycotted here in the USA to send them a message that Americans support freedom, not authoritarianism.
Not a coke fan here, but it should be noted that those bottles of coca cola you see still being sold, are property of the supermarket chain. They are stocked up, already paid, and ready to be sold by the supermarket. Coca cola did check out from russia but doesn’t obviously have a say on their goods once they’ve changed hands. It really boggles my mind that the author of this video did not know that
Various big box stores will bring in the largest amount of staff to stock at night when customer traffic dies down, so it is pretty minimal cost just let the public access the store over these wider hours, and having a register open during stocking time promotes staff picking up items for drinks/snacks or if last a full shift even a meal.
Sounds like we should be BOYCOTTING AMERICAN COMPANIES THAT CHOOSE TO CONTINUE BUSINESS AS USUAL IN RUSSIA. NOW! I HAVE STOPPED BUYING COCA COLA BUT NOW I WILL CONTINUE TO BOYCOTT ANY AND ALL COMPANIES THAT CONTINUE THIS BUSINESS PRACTICE. SPREAD THE WORD PEOPLE!
@@puraLusa I currently don't buy from "said" companies... seeing how you KNOW MY SPENDING HABITS AND WHAT I PURCHASE, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT RIGHT? Keep it movin "Susan"
About the opening hours, here in Sweden where I live we have supermarkets open between 7 AM to 10 PM. Mostly those that have self service systems as you scan every product with a hand scanner or your mobile and then you pay at a automatic checkout. Then they don’t need so many cashiers. You get manually checkups randomly. Speeds up shopping greatly and during Covid it was great because you didn’t have to stand in cues!
I've contacted Proctor and Gamble here in Australia to ask why they are still doing business in Russia. Perhaps if others did too they might review their dirty business. BTW Pringles aren't classified as a potato chip by the European Union as they don't contain enough potato!
Don't worry, as an australian living in Moscow, I asked my local store to remove Vegemite a long time ago. Dont forget to tell Dan Murphys, Stoli vodka is made in Latvia not Russia. They can put it back on the shelf.
It is a Perekrestok Supermarket, open from 0800 to 2400 (midnight), 7 days a week. You are right. If you can read Cyrillic Russian is very readable for anyone who knows English, French or German. Many words are literally the foreign word written in Cyrillic. The price will mostly be for a kilo, some items it will be for 100gm. For Americans who don't know, a kilo is 2.2lbs so you need to divide the price by 2.2 to get $ per lb. Keep in mind, whilst some prices will seem cheap by western standards, Russian wages are so low that they can be a reach for many locals, and as has been pointed out inflation is savaging their ability to feed themselves. Especially now more and more Russians are losing their jobs due to the sanctions. Keep in mind this is a modern supermarket in a largely westernised city, not the many regional small villages left behind by the fall of Communism. btw NB that the articles pointing out the venal hypocrisy of these companies breaking the sanctions was not published in the American press but in the British Press. American Media is not far off the Russian for lack of journalistic freedom and integrity.
Perekrestok is also even more expensive than Moscow's Azbuka Vkusa and no one ever goes there. I can only wish I had the same problems as an unemployed university student living only off of $250/mo scholarship because I can afford any food I desire, except maybe the delicacies like caviar. I am waaaaaay far from starving and the sanctions only benefit us, as they did back in 2014 when this entire bizarre sanction spree started. No one cares about some expensive shipments of broccoli either.
This raises the question of whether embargoes have been enforced in the past and if they can be now. We have held an embargo against Cuba for nearly 70 years.
I watch his channel. He is great. He is very careful of his wording and his live broadcasts are chat free until the end where he gets a moderator and does not post chat on permanent archive. His overall tone is somewhat despare. People should watch his video on where he talks about the sentiment. He claims about a quarter of citizens object to war but at the dinner table, no one speaks of it.
Good to see you react to Konstantin”s content. He’s a smart guy making great content under genuinely difficult circumstances. Hopefully you can catch some of his daily livestreams 👍
Ultimately, I think this is what might really mess up the Russian economy. A global downturn is looming, Russia will be weathering that storm alone while dealing with an a economy already struggling with sanctions and war. I hope I'm wrong as that'll mean a lot of pain at home too.
Here is the original video from the channel INSIDE RUSSIA: ruclips.net/video/cl8QOaCltzk/видео.html
I had to cut a lot of my reactions to keep this video a reasonable length. So if you want to watch his full video and then do your own price calculations, it is pretty interesting.
Its 8 am to 4 pm ;)
Watch your channel regularly and I watch Konstantine's Inside Russia regularly as well....and had previously watched this video. But Konstantine overlooked the aspect that you highlighted. Let me share an interesting and relevant story which takes place before "the wall came down". Got interested in Russia after taking a Russian history class in high school. Got even more excited after finding out my teacher chaperoned two dozen seniors to Russia every year. Was pretty bummed when I found out I couldn't go on the trip. Fortunately the following year I was studying abroad my freshman year in the UK and visited Russia during my spring break. Stayed in Russia for two weeks and toward the end of the trip my group nominated me to by a gift for our tour guide. Everyone gave me about 10 rubles and I set out looking for something cool to express our thanks. Given that everything was written in Cyrillic I couldn't read any store signs. So I went out quite literally window shopping...would go from store to store pressing my nose up against the window to see what was inside. Came upon a jewelry shop and thought it might be worth a closer look. So I went inside. There were two long two rows...one for rings and necklaces, the other for watches. I've always been more knowledgeable about watches so I focused on watches. Walking down the row I was incredibly unimpressed with the quality of watches as there was no way they would have ever sold in the West.....big and clunky yet gaudy. Looked like Fred Flintstone had made the watches himself then painted them with gold Krylon. At any rate, I'll never forget the very last watch I came across. It was actually decent and it cost $62.50 in rubles which was only about $100.00 in US dollars. So I took note of the 15-20 people already waiting to be helped and I kinda figured out "Who's next?" while I was waiting. When my turn came, I raised my hand then pointed to the watch. EVERYONE made a big fuss as they rushed over and crowded around me....as if I were Elon Musk buying the Maltese Falcon! I had just turned 18 at the time and thought it was weird at first. Later when I had a chance to reflect, I realized just how poor Russian citizens were. They probably had to save up for YEARS just to afford what Americans would've considered an average watch. To the point you raised in this video, $100 American dollars is different in different countries. The Russian condition has improved...but not too much.
@@MrWolfheart111 nope. 24-00 it is midnight.
@@MrWolfheart111 24-00 it is the same as 00-00.
At times during the year including when I just went to the grocery store a week ago they had broccoli for $8 to $15 so $6 is actually lower than it is in America.
Jake, thank you for the shout out.
You missed a couple points. 1. The exchange rate that day was 61 and some kopeks just like I posted in the video. 2. A good salary in Russia is around 50 000 RUR or $850 per month. That is GOOD salary. Many people work for as much as 25 000 - 30 000 per month.
PS I learned much new about myself in the comments 🤭
Hi Konstantin, it's great to see your content popping up on other channels I follow. Inside Russia is a channel I recommend to everyone.
Hi, Konstantin. Is it real to exchange dollars for that price right now in Russia? I mean like to buy dollars?
@@tlev615 I believe he mentioned the black market rate to be 110 to 300, though I might be mixing sources.
@@leonieromanes7265 thank you friend. I am honoured. Will keep on showing up every day
@@tlev615 we cannot buy dollars at the moment. That’s the whole idea of controlled exchange rate
Konstantine is definately not supporting the war in ukraine and for someone living in an autocratic country where people dissagreeing with the government has a habit of being poisoned i would say he is pretty vocal about his stance. He has called out the government in many of his videos for the hardship his country is experiencing due to the event as he calls it (he refuses to call it a special military operation and instead calls it "the event"). In my opinion he is a brave and noble man trying to do his bid to stop the bloodshed by showing that there are people who doesnt agree with pulter.
Anyone who has watched a few of his video's knows that this is the case, god bless you for defending him
I agree. Konstantine is a straight shooter. I watch his videos every day.
It not really people who "disagree" with the government, it’s people who challenge the government to a point where they become a threat, that tend to disappear or be imprisoned for no reason or even assassinated.
Yep. Konstantin has made some good videos. I especially liked his video about Texas BBQ.
His videos are in english, they aren't for internal consumption. It's on purpose, he is pointing out his political views (he is an economist). He is somewhat protected as he works on gas business. He is smart enough to be copying the controlled oposition guys.
It's also possible that he is from the controlled oposition for foreign consumption.
Kostya's channel is great, he started working in Tashkent, Uzbekistan at the beginning of the invasion but his family has been back in Moscow this whole time. He's good about not contradicting the Russian government in ways that would get him in trouble but he's been pretty damned brave.
What trouble?
@@yaelz6043 Just 15 years in prison for anyone convicted of spreading "false information" about the Russian military. It's a new law passed by the Russian Duma following the invasion of Ukraine.
@@stephenbrand5661 so according to you there is now a law against nazi propaganda and that this is evil. Cool story, still not seeing anyone being arrested for speaking out against Putin.
@@yaelz6043 get locked up for telling the truth
@@legartas no one is locked up and this guy is lying in any case. Food prices in Russia are as insanely low as ever.
Lol.
I am from Russia, 100 km south of St. Petersburg.
Firstly, bloggers in Russia can say whatever they want and can call a war a war or whatever they like. Actually, a lot of Russian bloggers who support the war call it a war and criticize army and authorities for being "too soft" on Ukraine.
Secondly, in reality prices in Russia did go up, but very far from "skyrocketing". Idk, maybe you can find some super expensive butter for 15 dollars, but the kind of butter I'm buying is now somewhere around 2.6 dollars. It used to be around 1.9 or 2 dollars before Ukraine.
Thirdly, average salary for Russia is around 1160 dollars. However, this market is in Moscow, where salaries and prices are higher. Average salary for Moscow is around 2111 dollars.
Yeah, I agree that large Western companies like P&G and Nestle are very much at fault for not exiting the Russian marketplace completely.
@Tony Su I never considered P&G and Nestlè ethical businesses.
An other Russian I recently started viewing shared his findings in his local market in St Peterburg, named Niki Proshin. Inflation on many goods but also Shrinkflation of goods getting sneakily smaller.
That's happening here in the USA (again). I've noticed a couple things I buy regularly, smaller package.
Niki is a very good and brave person.
@@wintersbattleofbands1144 i heard dozen eggs now became 10
@@ДмитрийВолков-ю1ц 10 eggs in a box have been a thing for years in Russia, trust me i've lived here for 9 years now as an expat Australian. buying eggs here in a box of 10 is nothing new. Also he showed eggs in a 6 pack which is not new either.
Konstantin has a very good channel, he is worth watching. He tells everyone to "read between the lines" because he cannot say exactly what he wants or he could be arrested inside Russia. So he speaks his mind with some good humor, and you understand what he means when he speaks against the war.
Просто чушь. Я живу в России и могу говорить и писать что угодно. Ограничения свободы слова здесь меньше, чем в США.
@@VladislavDoroshuk hello from your Serbian sister! It's true they believe anything they are told by the news. There is a channel called Anna from Russia and she lives in a Siberian city and she goes to the grocery stores and malls and shows you the prices.
@@bendietrees 🙌
Thank you!! I was totally confused when I saw all these products still on shelves when Konstantines video aired. The problem is the American public “Think” all the companies pulled out, it needs to be brought to the general publics attention that many companies are just flat out not leaving or using their words carefully to make an appearance of leaving. Great work bringing this to light! Konstantine has a couple other videos where he walks through malls and shows what is still open and everything that is closed. While most western brands were closed there was a surprising amount still open.. like LEGO, The GAP, Banana Republic among others. Cheers!
Banana Republic. How appropriate
Never buying Lego again or shopping gap or banana republic. Someone should call them out publicly
the products you see still being sold are STOCK. Already paid and bought before the producing companies checked out of russia
LEGO? I thought they were better than that.
@@scottyd3138 Lego says they stopped shipments in March and they closed some stores on the 3rd of June due to supply issues. All their stores in Russia are operated by inventive retail group
Really appreciate the attitude that we must not treat business as usual with Russia as business as usual. Supporting Ukraine in this war means demanding more from our companies and them acknowledging that things won’t, and indeed shouldn’t, go back to normal even once the war finishes.
If you want global companies doing fake politics, you're gonna get a whole lot of shit. Imagine if Russia was the biggest economy then these companies would side with Russia and would have stopped operating in America/ Ukraine /EU... careful what you wish for
Things should only go back to normal after the Russian Federation falls and is replaced with a Democracy!
Nice…. Love calling out these sneaky and morally corrupt business executives. 👍👍👍
Russia made it legal to import goods from third parties even if the manufacturer bans sales into Russia. This makes it hard to know if something on sale in Russia is because the company is doing business in Russia or just unable to control their product distribution through these third party distributors and smugglers. It can become obvious if a third party distributor suddenly increases orders but it isn’t always as easy to tell, depending on the size of the distributor and the markets they serve.
Also means lots of fake products will appear on Russian shelves
during the cold war and the russian invasion of Afghanistan russia was sanctioned by u.s. so instead wheat shipments from the u.s. were offloaded in poland and then transhipped to russia
Except companies come right out and say they are still supplying "staples." Jake didn't read the full Kellogg's statement but at 18:11 they actually said they had stopped shipping Pringles. So we are to believe all those Pringles have been smuggled or come through third parties. Maybe. Or maybe time for "woke" American employees to get serious about other victims of oppression.
@@AstroGremlinAmerican WTF are you on about
@@miketaylor5212 which begs the question: why would a wheat producer be importing wheat?
Jake thank you for pointing out the companies that arent pulling out..
Too bad Putler's dad didn't pull out. :(
The conversion rate of the ruble is artificially increased by Putin blocking most exchanges and burning foreign currencies to buy rubles at a high rate. It's meaningless since you can not legally trade rubles for dollars, it's a short-sighted policy to give the impression of stability.
The rate at the black market, more indicative of the currency's real value, would be interesting to see.
It should be around 200:1 accounting for purchase power parity.
I apologize in advance for bad English, I write through Google translator. Everything you see about prices is most likely caused by the desire of speculators in large supermarkets to get super profits. At the Sennoy market in St. Petersburg, you can buy tomatoes for 60 rubles, apples for 50, cucumbers for 25, cauliflower for 40, nectarines for 60. The price of cheese, cottage cheese, meat, chocolate in supermarkets has practically dropped to the pre-war value. The departure of Coke and McDonald's doesn't upset me at all.
1) Most of the prices are per kilogram, so divide by 2 to get approximate price per pound. 2) There was (and may still be) a lot of Western products in warehouses in Russia when the sanctions hit, but once they are gone, if the company has stopped shipping to or producing products Russia, they are gone.
Just wanted to say, that this Russian guy Konstantin is a decent person and he is not complaining about the prices in the supermarket, but reporting, what's happening in there overall. And yes, the supermarket is open during 8-24.
P&G Pepsi & Coke needs to be given serious sanction breaking fines or financial penalties along with user backlash.
With respect to denying Russia essentials, yes I agree with Jake. We simply need to look at what Ukraine is being denied.
Any supplies already there would remain. It'll be awhile to see reductions.
Coca-Cola has pulled out of Russia. Back in the day C-C supplied nazi Germany right up until December '41, that's when the German bottler invented Fanta as a replacement. May be they learned from their history...
They are not breaking sanctions though.
Your first sentence is right on; all companies still selling in Russia need to be "sanctioned" -- fined, and boycotted. Supply chains may be long (months, maybe) but there are 140 M Russian consumers, and you can bet a lot of these goods were sent well after the War started. As for "essential items", I am in agreement with Jake. And what is more "essential" to survival than the heating oil/gas that Russia is denying Europe? We need to be as draconian here as Russia, or this War is extended. . . . thx for your concise comment, MDC.
@@Doso777 F--k sanctions. These companies are breaking "Morality" and bouying the morale of Russia. I stand with Ukraine and human lives, not with greedy Corporations.
Before the pandemic my local (New Brunswick, Canada) grocery store was open until midnight. Convenient for retail workers back when shops were open until 8 or 9. It’s currently 10 pm.
my walmart in ontario is 11pm
A lot of people in Russia do their shopping at night, the temperatures are cooler than the daytime and the sun never really sets. It's called White nights.
Thanks for the video! - It was sickening to see so many American products still selling in Russia....
*As long as vodka remains cheap Tsar Vlad the Impaler can control the regular Russian half brains.*
100% agree that Russian common people need to feel the pain of the average Ukrainian - stop selling U.S./EU products in Russia!
We need to begin boycotting all these companies here in the U.S. till they hold up their end of the bargain - damn the profits, damn the brand name, - Ukrainians are dying and for what? Putin ego!
This. People with more time on their hands than me, need to make good websites collecting info about which companies do not withdraw
I am addicted to Coke Cola. I have found a cheaper off brand that taste the same. I will be sure to not buy Coke ever, in the name of Ukraine.
Yes I'm with you, lets call them out at every turn. Only problem is nobody knows about this, so we must try to make people aware, otherwise we will be feeling the effects for nothing, while Corporations feel nothing, just Business as usual.
Burger King never left. Also Continental tires. And another German business is still producing. They also have to be called out. Money over human life an Animals.
Love of money is the route of all evil.
This is also how the Super Global Rich play their games, like we play checkers. Killing people. They're demonic.
I totally agree with boycotting companies who appear to support these regimes for profit. On that note how about boycotting Mercedes, Porche, Nestle among others for getting their fingers dirty with the Hitler's Nazis. Maybe avoid buying that VW for the same reason and more recently for committing giant fraud against its customers by lying about emissions. Personally, whenever I find out about shit like this, I cross these companies off my list.
Inside Russia guy is pretty cool everyday he goes live to talk about how bad this war is plus he's a good guy everyone should sub
This. Constantine is based A F
@@stream2watch It's a normal guy in a country stormed by stupid '800-era nationalism.
Konstantin is a good guy.
@@leonieromanes7265 he is I've been subrd sinced the first groceiry run he put on RUclips maybe two months ago I feel so bad for him life is BS sometime u just gotta roll with the punch's
I've been following Konstantine for months. I get the impression he is completely honest and legit but necessarily cautious about what he says. We don't have to agree with every detail but I believe he is speaking from the heart. On comparing median salaries, my country (Australia) is roughly 3x Russia.
Also been following him for months now he seems very honest and i find he's channel very informative. I cant say i agree with hes political and religious views.....but thats me...... In any way its always good to listen to other people's views......
I liked it at the start, now they seem a little dragged out with too much prayers and God.
@@brinjoness3386 he ends the stream with a prayer, but he announces it 1st so you won't have to stay if you don't want to
@@brinjoness3386 well im the same but im biased since im an atheist. But thing is ppl can be good even if they are conservative and alt right.
I too am from Australia. Worked in China for 6+ years.
I had a very good salary in China that would be mediocre in Australia.
If that was all we compared, clearly Australia is better. But if I factored in cost of transportation, cost of groceries, cost of rent... Suddenly China is WAY better.
And you got to be careful with apples-to-oranges comparisons. Such as.... Apples and oranges. What the climate is like will have a big impact on what food is available. In Australia I mostly ate dairy and red meat. Such a diet would be more expensive in China, not because food is more expensive, just because _that_ food is more expensive.
I live in Russia, and let me tell you - there’s no way the median salary is 110000 rubles. 50000 is more reasonable. I don’t know many average people making more than that each month.
Konstantin's channel is a great view into what is happening in Russia, and he relies on demonstration through video rather than trying to convince people of what is going on. He is most definitely in the minority in his country, not supporting the invasion or ongoing war in Ukraine, but like all Russians, is subject to the punitive legislative scheme and risks jail or retribution with every video. Cheers to you for using his video, this will hopefully be a lot of crossover for most of us, but hopefully new people will find both channels this way.
Niki Proshin also just released a video on these issues. Not every brand of butter is secured, but a lot are. There's also a lot of shrinkflation sneaking in, like milk going from 1l to 800ml.
he's a decent guy.
Both are decent folk bringing us truth about the effect of war and sanctions on common people that stands in sharp contrast with the muscle flexing of Russian regime. I think I'd go broke with prices like this. In my country I pay 2 dollars for 250g brick of butter and 60 cents for 1l of milk.
Yes! Some of the prices I saw in a various videos are crazy high compared to how much an average Russian earns per month.
He's in St. Petersburg, Konstantine is in Rostov-on-Don - just outside the warzone. There is a real pecking order in Russia, after all Niki will never have to worry about getting drafted.
@@kenlieberman4215 You mean because of St. Petersburg being a big city - i.e. keep them happy because you can't risk unrest there?
I have been watching Inside Russia and 1420 for awhile now, 2 of my favs.
Constantine is a good guy, I have watched him for over a year. The conversion rate is artificially low. I think 100-120 RU to 1 dollar would be more realistic. Also their prices are per Kilo or 2.2lb. I buy Broccoli in Cali for $1-1.79 per lb ($2.20 to $3.98 kilo). So their prices are pretty much the same as in the US. The butter situation is that pensioners in Russia make very little money and a small piece of butter would be easy to steal.
You are completely right man.
Yeah, sanctions seem to be a mixed bag. On one hand California has a high cost of living and a 15 dollar minimum wage. The average Russian probably isn't used to American prices for goods. Sanctions do seem to make things more expensive and harder to come by, but there seems to be a lot of ways to skirt sactions anyway. If sanctions are suppose to make Russians mad and their government, they seem to have only made it more frustrating to live. I think most would rather pay 15-20% more for something than risk time in the gulag for participating in activism or protest.
I've been to RU and they make about 1/3 of what we do here. Labor costs are extremely low. I've seen swarms of people with brooms hand sweeping the streets..
The same price for them is terrible due to them making way less on average.
@@brianm.595 yes but they pay way less for housing and other things.
Hi Jake, I enjoyed your videos and agreed with your view. I feel the critical success factor to win economically against Russia is a drop in oil prices which I don't see happening due to U.S. oil companies raking in profit instead of ethically obligated to support the U.S. government and increase oil production. If only the government make oil production a national necessity, then there might be a chance of winning.
Simple economics tells you that when a resource is at a high price, you produce to make the profit. So why aren’t oil companies making oil? Regulation. If they could drill and barrel and sell it they would. They’re publicly traded companies, they have to profit. How long has it been since a new refinery has been built? Over twenty years. The problem with the price of gas is the government in the marketplace, not to mention Biden ran on a platform of eliminating fossil fuels. We went from an exporter of oil to an importer because the government took away the resource.
I remember some five to six years ago when I came to Russia, onions were at times as cheap as 12 rubles per kilo. That was in the south west. When I was in Yakutsk, in the north east, they were way more expensive, something over 40 rubles if I remember correctly. In the video it looks like a lot of basic products have seen a price increase of 100 per cent (doubling), one has to wonder how this hits the far east provinces.
This information is very upsetting. I agree with you, Jake, we need to stop, STOP, allowing these huge companies from supplying Russia with the products, and more, as desolated in this video. Oh, boy, am angry. Letters going out tomorrow to P&G objecting to their doing business with Russia. Letters going to my gov’tal reps telling them this citizen is mad as hell that our sanctions are not all inclusive and they need to do something about this. Thanks for the video, Jake. As always a great job ❣️
Yes send them letters!! But i have to warn you, the answers will not be kind to your sense of self… those are STOCKED products, bought and paid by the supermarket chain BEFORE the companies checked out of russia. Didn’t you think of that?
What they have in the country remained there, and businesses/factories were seized by the govt. They'll have some products for several months just from stock alone.
If I was Ukrainian , I would be very grateful for your support and honesty.
Since your NOT, NOw what
I live in Russia and I see all these western products in the supermarket everytime I go. I assumed they had a lot of stuff in stock for several months and I hope to see some stuff running out soon, but so far I can't think of anything that has totally gone. But I did notice recently that the shelf space for coca cola has shrunk and now it's about 50% coke and the rest is Russian made kvas. So hopefully this means the lack of western products will come later this summer.
Yes I live in Russia too, Perecrestok the supermarket featured is an upmarket store in my opinion , a little like Waitrose in Britain. Magnet is the biggest chain where most "ordinary " Russians shop. Each time I visit there seems to be a little less of certain products, its definitely having an effect . I also noticed yesterday our huge Decathlon store had shut, I hope its not just a stocktaking day !!!!
@@stephenbethell7548 Yeah my local supermarkets a huge 24/7 magnit.
@@benl9047 @Stephen Bethell So many expats, who would have though. I am an Austalian living in Moscow.
@@TravellingwithRussell And hos is that Madcow for you comrade?
Imagine profits they make. Insanity.
Excellent video,I couldn't agree more with you, that these companies that continue to supply Russia with western products be named and shamed.Perhaps a website could be set up to do this,and have their products boycotted.
There would still be a quantity of foreign food and products for sale due to stock still available from the central food warehouses. It's only been 3 months of sanctions so there will still be inventory in the ware houses. Especially anything with a long shelf life such as Coke Cola and Washing Detergent and stuff like that. I have worked in such Warehouses and all Christmas Confectionery comes in from August onwards , months before Christmas so therefore there could be a stock of certain products stored in the Central Distribution Warehouses that would have been bought before the sanctions.
But as stocks of these products get low, the price will increase even more. Certain products would have a six month inventory.
Agree. As pointed out, nearly no customers, just a few women carrying baskets with a couple of items. Those prices are not currently affordable. In the west coke would be sold out in a day with people filling shopping trollies to the max and going back for seconds and thirds, then (if in Russia) selling it on the street for double when it runs out. Probably their "koka-kola" is sold outside a modern (empty) mall for less than half these prices, and most shoppers will not buy American anyway. Zero demand, and still on existing stocks after 3 months seems pretty likely.
@@kustomzone coca cola is their smallest issue. A l of gasoline in russia is twice as cheap as in Germany, but wages in russia are not 2 times smaller, but 10 times…
More likely just sourcing from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan etcc.
I am going to do my best to NOT purchase anything from Proctor and Gamble. This is terrible. Shame on you P&G!
My two favorite channels on covering the war in Ukraine in the same video!? Yes please!
Check out Denys Davydov's channel also.
@@gerhardpeace yep I agree, and insights from Ukraine and russia, I love the intercepted phone calls, blyat
You should also check out Perun. The videos of him are also super good
Thank you Jake for this vid. What you said @ 23:08 +/- is correct; we need essential items to vanish from stores in order to evoke dissent and political change in Russia. It isn't any more "cold hearted" than to deny the people of Europe heating oil in winter, or -- more dramatically -- to deny common innocent people their LIVES. Russia needs to pay dearly, and these American companies owes us an explanation, or we should all BOYCOTT their Greed.
I sanction them by not buying their products, and I’m far from alone doing so. It would be a nice irony for these companies finding themselves losing market shares “at home”, where they are safe unlike remaining in Russia.
Jake, I completely empathize with your strong reaction(s) to the continued economic involvement of U.S. firms in Russia. In principle, I agree with you too. Ideally, the nation of Russia would be completely deprived of any and all forms of economic benefit from any Western nation that is aligned with Ukraine. However, the single biggest source of benefit to Russia, and in particular to the ruling regime, is the exportation of hydrocarbon products in large quantities to Central and Eastern Europe. The crude oil will be cut sooner or later, but curtailing purchasing of the natural gas is apparently beyond the capacity of the German leadership to stomach.
I am not an economist, but my sense is that: if all exports of hydrocarbon-related products to all EU and NATO member states were ended, the impact on the Russian economy and on Putin's capacity to wage war would be enormous; probably an order of magnitude or even TWO compared to the current impacts.
On the other hand, if every single consumer good produced under license in Russia, or imported into Russia were cut, it would very likely have minimal increased impact on the Russian economy or Putin's capacity to wage war.
The truly horrible part of all this is that Germany was warned for years by various outspoken American leaders not to go forward with more and more reliance on Russian exports, but they did, even AFTER Russia first began its war on Ukraine in 2014 and even after the MH17 mass murder.
I agree with your outrage, but the time for outrage to have been truly beneficial to Ukraine was years ago when there was still the capacity to create deterrence by providing Ukraine with substantial military backing. We'd have to go back and consult Obama era policies to learn why that was not done.
It wasn’t done because our politicians in America are laundering tax dollars back into their pockets. They’re profiting of of the war and conflict.
A LOT of german officials are in Putin's pocket. You spend a couple of hundreds of million in bribery and you get the country hooked. A LOT of this a lot went to finance the Greta's of the world, to act as a "useful idiots", to promote mostly useless green energy and thus weaken the West. A lot also went to the US for anti fracking movement.
Ukraine had a lot of corruption before Zelenskyy was elected. It was a battle he took on before the invasion. Still something to be settled before Ukraine is admitted into EU or NATO.
you are not only not an economist, you are also a dreamer
Any progress?
Russia prospers and develops, and the dreamer has wet pants.
I'd rather have sales continue for those companies but then add a "Russia Tax" on top of everything which goes straight towards Ukrainian humanitarian help.
That way companies don't permanently lose marketshare without even having any significant impact on the outcome of the war. And Ukraine would get a nice income stream as long as Russians keep buying Redbull.
Same with Russian energy, if every barrel is taxed with 150% by the EU, then the EU gets more money than Russia for that same energy. And other energy exporters will have an easier time competing against Russian energy too.
The Russia Tax could be also be implemented at a lower rate for countries with close ties with Russia as well (such as Belarus). That way importing stuff from there isn't as beneficial as it is now.
good idea!
THIS this is the best idea I’ve seen. I don’t agree with punishing or depriving the Russian citizens of things just because their leader is a not so great person, it’s not their fault.
While idea is good and made me laugh at thought of Russian paying tax to support the country they attack. Still think Russians need to feel the weight of doing nothing allowing invasions of neighbours over and over without consequences only encourages them to stay ignorant and not stand up against dictator leadership like Putin. When Russia people should be having their own *Maiden* to remove Corrupt leadership.
Except the companies will just take the money..
I used to do merchandising (fancy term for stocking stores) for coca-cola... trust me there is going to be a TON of back stock in warehouses there, not even counting what might be still in shipping containers in ports. Additionally, the bottlers are likely local and they manage their own distribution. They will run out, but it may take some time.
How much? Months or years?
I was just thinking of this.
Ah. Let them eat fake McDonald’s.
I was wounding if this may be the case
@@Ifonly-notus the Mc Pukin burger
If you say to someone NOT in Moscov that AVERAGE Russian has 110 000 rubles per month he hit you hard :). THE AVERAGE wage in Russia is about 50 000 (for some regions even less) rubs per month. Retirement pay can be 12 000 rubs per month. It is about 230 USD.
And a regular unqualified worker like a cleaner, or warehouse worker, makes like 20k right?
That seems to be what new labourers make, when I read about their phlight on Dvach.
@@stream2watch Or worker can be on "unpaid vacation".It is like you have a job but you do not have a salary.
If I'm not mistaken one in five Russians has an outdoor toilet.
@@connorkenway09 Yes, you are mistaken.
@@Slavic_Goblin How many then? Come on bruh from Siberia to the Bearing Sea there is probably a hundred toilets max! On account of the ground is always frozen.😁
You know what Jake, I'm Polish and I have been living in Australia since year 2000. I recall visiting Poland in 2009, years after Poland joined the EU, a democracy unlike Russia, no sanctions there, and their prices for food, technology and clothing were as much as what I paid in Australia already then. In fact, imported goods had the main price tag in EU and underneath there was a recalculation to Polish Zloty based on average conversion currency, while of course people have been earning Polish wages: The cost of 2 lemons per hour for the retail assistant selling those lemons. The only change today is you, i.e. a westerner noticing it...I guess better late than never.
That's right, as Polish living in Poland I confirm. We just have lower housing costs, but this is obvious, almost nobody can afford like $1500 of monthly rent, because $1500 monthly in Poland it is a really good wage for an average person. A mean wage is about $1000 monthly (after taxes). If somebody earns $2000 monthly (after taxation) he is considered to be an upper - middle class or even higher class. Let's say, that you can rent an average apartment in larger city for, say, $500 monthly.
@@pokrec Yep, I recall, mum was a nurse at a public hospital Praski and my phone bill was higher than her monthly wage... Poland is not the only democratic country with these issues. I wish westerners understood that is why the wealth distribution is in their favour, many western supermarkets invest and open stores in countries like Poland to, with full awareness, make money on that very difference between payable wages and charge on products - these are astronomical profits that they would never get in nations like Australia, US, etc. I actually looked at the cost of broccoli yesterday here and it was 7 AUD buks that translates to similar prices as showed in this video in Russia. The minimum wage is about 21 AUD buks per hour tho. We are affected by inflation, cold weather and flood damage in agricultural regions in Australia at the moment and 7 buks for a kilo of broccoli during winter is a bit. I am actually thinking how cheap life had to be in Russia before sanctions, as if Jake is correct, and prices doubled since war in Ukraine, life in Russia was more affordable than in many western and EU countries. I wish to see more videos from supermarkets around the world as it is very eye opening.
To be fair American goods are cheap as we have corporate mega farms that produce absurd amounts of stuff (and put smaller farms out of business) plus our food is heavily subsidized
@@jjcoola998 Yes, but try to eat only organic food. You will very soon feel how it is to live in, say Russia. American food is widely known to be of not very high quality. You can have either quality or low price...
@@blackpaint9093 I hear you, I believe patrol in Australia is cheaper than Europe as well. I was going to edit my response above as a kilo of broccoli, not organic or anything, was 12 AUD yesterday...that is over 400 rubles. Perhaps, Americans have it much cheaper than us as well 🤔
I absolutely agree with you and in the West we need to boycott these companies, Proctor and Gambles particularly. Their offices and factories in the West need blockading.
i remember visiting a "high end grocery" some years ago and they had truffles for sale. they were in a polycarbonate box with a lock. being a locksmith at that time, i could immediately tell that the lock was a joke. i pulled out a pocket pick i carried with me, and demonstrated to the manager how easy it was to open the lock. he just shrugged and said it wasn't his place to question upper management or make changes that he wasn't told to make.
the manager probably shoplifted those truffles too , so better to keep the fake lock
This is the Russian way. Nobody thinks for themselves. You only think for the people below you.
@@a5cent is there actually something lower than russians ?
The locks usually aren't locks but alarm sensors that go off if it's stolen by just walking out the store with it
@@gaudente1900
Beats me. In contrast to Russians, answering that question is above my pay grade.
The shocking part of this video is that a guy who lives in Las Vegas thinks it's odd for a grocery story to be open at midnight :-)
The Whole Foods next to my house closes at 9pm, lol
@@JakeBroe That's crazy. I live in the Twin Cities and my Cub Foods is open 24 hours
I think your are really really missing the point here....Jake
@@JakeBroe My Safeway in the SF Bay area is open until midnight and so are the Safeways in Las Vegas.
24,hr opening pretty common
I”ve been telling this for a month…. Some food prices in Russia are way way more expensive than prices in Berlin… most russians make 300 usd a month.
For those who don't know/don't remember math classes 20 years ago.
Median is "half are higher, half are lower." The median house price is the price greater than half the homes in the area, the median salary is more than what half the population makes, etc.
71.9 million Russians are employed, so 35.95 million make the median salary or less.
Konstantine is very good at explaining the situation in a way that he won’t get hauled off to prison! He has strict rules for live chats, so big brother won’t shut him down. Worth watching. One video from another person in Russia showed green potatoes which are poisonous. They were cheaper, but you don’t want to throw away half a potato because it’s green!
Great analysis. Thank you. I've added Proctor & Gamble to my no-buy list.
Make that Burger King as well. Not to mention German tires Continental. There's more if one keeps digging.
I had tweeted about German tire manufacturer Continental staying open in Russia. They are probably supplying the Ruzzian army with quality tires, and taking the money home to Germany
The russian government threat criminal consequences to the employees and Managers of the company if Continental wouldn't open the factory again.
Add Nestlé to your no-buy list
Add KFC and Coca-Cola and Pepsi and Frito Lay and Pringles and Danone and Toyota and Valve and literally every Chinese company and Asus and Microsoft's Xbox and others to the list as well and don't buy anything from Alibaba
I think the best course of action is to organize a boycott of any brands which continue to sell their products in Russia and instead choose to buy a competitor.
If P&G, Coca-cola, Pepsi, and others are afraid of losing their Russian market, we need to show them that they can't have their cake and eat it too.
If they won't willingly give up on the Russian market, they can choose to lose their American customers instead.
This would be the first time in history that Americans will make healthy life choices 🤣❌🥤
@@JellyAntz or moral life choices
@@charlesjay8818 Yes and no. Now I feel compelled to talk about and rant in a political fashion about generalizations and stupidities in America. 🤓Most shortcomings of American people come from ignorance to the events in reality.
Americans are generally very kind (to my surprise as an American), but where things go wrong is in the riots and crowd/mob mentality in certain silly protests. Also, the overreactions from sensitive people mostly on the farther left to many things like the unjust murder of a few black men and shootings, as well as far-right racist Trump supporters and science deniers, they cause division and just not a wonderful time for the country. If most Americans were not ignorant to the atrocities and corruptions committed by the American government and mega-corporations, then they would be outraged and slowly make less excuses to stop living their peaceful lives under a status quo that is supported by militaristic foreign policy destabilizing countries together with evil Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and child labor in the DR of Congo for our phones, among countless examples.
If people on the right who complain about immigrants crossing the border knew that the whole ordeal was caused SOLELY by the federal government using American tax dollars and imperialism from the 20th century to set up right wing dictators in Latin America, then they would be outraged morally as well. Literally everything Americans complain about is the result of the mistakes and evil deeds of the government within the last century. Gangs became more powerful after they were sent back to their countries where the locals cannot contain them like in America. With brutal American-backed dictators and gangs destabilizing Latin America, the people have no choice but to flee to America in hopes of survival and a better life.
I hardly ever drink sodas so this won't effect me, but these companies are so rich they don't have to operate in Russia at all. If they make a big tadoo about not operating in Russia then they're just greedy.
@@gabrielday9519 I agree
“I’m not spending $12 on this broccoli!” 😂 Well said Jake. We certainly don’t have it as bad as Russia.
I love broccoli, boiled, steamed, fried also In wook's and pie's
@@derptweaker945 maybe so but I’d rather not spend $12 for it
Hi Jake. I'm following Inside Russia since the beginning of the war. He is great and gives a good vieuw over what is happening over there!!
To be honest, I feel for the average Russian citizen as they didn't ask for this and it is obvious they are not allowed to express dissent, so it's very difficult to ascertain real support for the special operation versus perceived support.
Moreover, in current situation, Russian state became basically the sole arbiter of exchangeable currencies. Private businesses that weren't involved in oil and gas were shot down by the sanctions. Population's wellbeing is reduced and poorest people can rely only on the state. Putin waged war against NGOs, but wasn't as effective as these sanctions. While the standard of living is falling and there are no saviour but the state, "speaking up" becomes more difficult, not less. Internal military forces (that have nice German equipment to beat up any gathering), police and tortures are just a "nice" final touch to preserve the state of affairs. The main idea is that the people are lacking necessary political and judicial powers. Now they lack economic power as well.
Konstantine is a good person. Thanks for mentioning his channel.
I agree with you 100% boycott all.
also why send stuff to a country that's would like to destroy us if they got the chance.
Oh my God. These prices are scary 😨
This Perekrestok chain is also even more expensive than Moscow's Azbuka Vkusa, a premium chain that is only in Moscow, and no one ever goes there, especially now that they've started jacking the prices to make an easy buck. The other stores don't do that. I can only wish I had the same problems as an unemployed university student living only off of $250/mo scholarship because I can afford any food I desire, except maybe the delicacies like caviar. I am waaaaaay too far from starving and the sanctions only benefit us, as they did back in 2014 when this entire bizarre sanction spree started. No one cares about some expensive shipments of broccoli either.
In reality, you can gain quality mass on a budget in Russia if you go to the gym, let alone afford all the food you need. The prices aren't scary at all because they're unrealistic due to Perekrestok's hubris.
Thank you very much for adding some brands to my personal ban list.
_"P&G said last month it was ending all new capital investments in Russia and significantly reducing its portfolio to focus on basic hygiene, health and personal care items"_
...And junk food, I guess.
I followed Konstantin's channel got a while as he's anti-war. Once he posted a picture of him at the airport with the title "I am leaving Russia". It turns out he was just going on a business trip. I commented (perfectly politely) that this was a little misleading as all the comments had assumed he was fleeing Russia. My comment vanished. So, I put it again. That vanished too. I put a test comment mentioning that my other comments had vanished and he replied saying he never deletes comments. It turns out he has moderators deleting any comment that isn't pure praise
So yeah, anti-war but still censoring and lying in typical Russian style.
David, in last video he asked the mods to stop deleting the comments to see how it goes, i think they are a bit overzealous, and quite rightly so his freedom is at stake, but maybe too overzealous. Also you can email him directly if your comments keep getting deleted, i think his email is in the community section.
@@becr9369 Yeah, I appreciate his channel has grown quickly and they wouldn't be the first mods to get carried away. Plus being anti-war is dangerous in Russia. But he said to me "I don't delete comments". Now, that's not technically a lie because he had his mods doing it for him but that's hugely misleading and I simply don't trust him anymore.
Check out the concept of controlled oposition. He does work in the gas business, his house is quite big and confy, he does vids in english for external consumption. But hey... It's just a thought.
@Flower Power - I'm sure if you stop watching Konstantin people in Ukraine will be grateful and benefit greatly. (This should also take care of the head swiveling [vertigo?] and guilt.)
@icky Vicky - He lives in Russia. Should he refuse to pay taxes?? Do you seriously think that would stop the war?? Don't you pay taxes in your country??
Hey Jake. Thanks for putting out these videos. Really enjoy them and appreciate your keeping up with the situation! I agree that without complete participation from western companies, and by extension, a lack of availability of goods to the typical Russian, it will be difficult for bring about positive change there. That said, I'd like to suggest a couple ideas (could be completely off base). First, is it possible there's still product in the pipeline that hasn't dried up yet? I always check the expiration date of products (even here in the US) and it seems mostly like it's usually many months or even a year plus in advance. And two, is it possible Russian manufacturers are counterfeiting American products to make things seem like everything is still normal?
It could be old stock yes
Hi Jake - This video is really on point. The economy of Russia is the size of the US state of Texas. It's not like their economy is critical to the survival of these companies.
Just to add something, the Ruble to USD exchange rate is artificially low due to RCB currency controls. If the Ruble were allowed to float it could be closer to 120:1.
Europe is literally sustaining Putins war, if they cut of purchase even by half , Russia will start imploding very fast
@@johnaware9434 good luck selling that gold in a market controlled by the west
@@johnaware9434
Gold in the ground is worthless only if you mine it and sell it then you get something.That doesn't change the currency value.It is Russian hard currency that is spent to support the value of the Ruble and that doesn't help average Russian because they don't intend to exchange their currency to a dollar.price Inflation in Ruble is what matters to them because they get paid in Ruble.
"Russia's ban effect" is mostly felt in Europe. Russia together with Belarus) was major supplier of CHEAP wood, cheap fuel, cheap gas, cheap grain, cheap fertilizer, cheap construction materials (like cement). With Russia (and Belarus) cut off from supply grid the prices of simple but essential commodities like fuel, construction materials, gas, electricity, food (related to fuel and fertilizer shortages) are RISING in a neverending spiral. Everything is connected and the sanctions really are shaking the stability of european economy
@@johnaware9434 Good luck in buying goods with gold.
Oh Jake, you nailed it. I'm ready to boycott those companies now unless they get their act together. If not Russia might be their only market.
About this Konstantin:
Last week he said that ”he does not understand at all the fuzz about Russian and Ukrainian wheat, and how it can have big effect on world’s food prices.”
Next day he said, that he has studied economics for 7 years in US and Russia.
That does not make any sense, and sure rings my alarm bells.
Just 'cause you studied something doesn't necessarily mean you're any good at it
@@Digitaaliklosetti 7 years of economics, and he says ”I really don’t understand why this wheat crisis in Russia and Ukraine has any affect to the other countries in the world”..?
Once again, Jake, your reporting is excellent.
Nevertheless, this video chilled my bones. In America, the food prices are also pretty bad, so it is frightening to imagine how much worse the Russians have it.
There is a lot of "synthetic" food. 100% chemical. Like "Cheese product" with cheese flavor.
@@shulyakav In Russia a lot of products are actually kinda good and most don't have GMOs added to them. Most products will have on the label "Bez GMO" no GMOs whereas a lot of products in my country or other western countries are genetically modified so they can get more of something from a lot less, however, quantity doesn't equal quality.
The Russians wouldn't have it as bad as the USA mainly due to cheap energy and fertilisers and other cultivation chemicals for growing crops, that said it did rise and now its falling, America hasn't seen the peak in price rises yet
And to imagine the average Russian citizen earns a third of Americans. God.
Well, Russian problems will require Russian solutions. We should do what we can to expedite that solution. What'd we have Langley for.
In America broccoli is $8 to $15 and Tomatoes are over $7 which actually means Biden's America is worse than Russia even with sanctions on Russia.
how is Constantine not in Russian jail?
I will make sure to forward this video to everyone who has a sence of morality. Hope people start their own boycotts. Would like to have more information on brands and Corporations still doing business in Russia. Thanks for this video.
The real question is then would people stop supporting these companies in Countries outside of Russia if they know they are basically still supporting Russia with the killing of civilians & children?
Hey man, those products you see in the video still being sold, were stocked up before the western companies checked out. The supermarket chains probably still have warehouses full of coke bottles, that doesn’t mean that coca cola is still doing business in russia
@@zedudli Empty "Coke" bottles could end up being recycled with "Bogus Coke" as has happened before in parts of the world where copyright enforcement is lax or nonexistent. When living in or visiting some countries I learned to be very careful about what I was buying. I've even seen restaurants with names like "Kernel Chiken and Humbergar Queen!"
@@zedudli where can one find an up to date list of Western Branded companies still doing business in Russia?
@@onionpie52 there are a few, just google “list of companies that still operate in russia”; I’ve tried copypaste some of them in this comment but youtube removed it after I’ve posted it
According to the Russian central bank, the current exchange rate is 58 rubles, but you don't get that rate. Exchange offices take 70 rubles for the dollar , means the prices are even higher .
Jake, a particular point. Coca Cola could have licensed a local pop producer to make Coca Cola. Corporate may have cut the contract, BUT the local manufacturer may still be producing product by violating the terms, but the Russian govt has already said they will not enforce trademark or patents of any company participating in sanctions. The same could be for a number of products.
I enjoy that channel, I love crossovers between the channels I like!
Love your videos Jake, keep it up!
Very interesting video Jake, as a Cincinnati native I am ashamed of P&G.
Average salary is Russia is 56,280 rubles that is $940 (that's too much, I don't believe it) , and the median salary is 40,245 rubles that is $670. But the ruble right now is super strong because of exceptionally high oil prices. So it's not gonna stay this way for long
I checked several videos from Moscow and today price for butter in Moscow is about 30% less than what I pay in the US ($5.29/lb) from oberweis
.Average salary in Moscow is $1500 per month after tax and most of people do not have mortgages and other expenses like we have in the US. Overall, USA provides to its people about 30% more compared to Russia. It used to be 3 times better in the US in 1993 when I moved here. The situation is turning around in USA vs Russia comparison during my life span. I am in the US and I am very concerned the direction my country is going.
Some of the largest Supermarkets in Russia are French (Auchan) and German (Metro) and Dutch (Spar), and should not have a problem bringing in Coca Cola or Gellette from their homelands.
Nothing would get through customs of whatever country it originated in.
Yes they would because the roote for trucks passes the polish-bielorussian border and there are activists there to make sure they don't pass. That being said, they can go thru other routes into russia, just way more expensive (gas, state of rodes, time, etc).
@@wolfvale7863 how do u think it is extra easy to buy ilegal stuff in EU... customs... 😂😂 EU is a burocrat dream... There is no control of that level...
@@puraLusa Well clearly the French Auchen are not fully stocking the shelves with Coke, Tampex, Gillette, and Redbull from Russia?
@@FilmFactry no, the french aren't but they aren't checking if those items are heading into russia either. EU is a burocracy mess and has very litle control of market bessides law making.
I follow k from quite long👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻, well done jake!!
I wonder how proud they will be about their ability to endure hardship once the sanctions actually set in. Right now they still have 'large' stocks of goods and equipment although are starting to eat into them.
It's not a question of pride but survival. And the ones who survive the soviet crash its a pride and its rightfully so, their enginuity was what made them not starve to death. No need to vilify everything russian.
Problems will first arrive down the line, when companies start being unable to produce anything
@@puraLusa The United States helped the Russians very much after the soviet collapse. They'd have likely folded entirely if it was not for the US. The US also helped the Russians very much during and after WWII.
This time the US is not there to bail them out, probably.
@@ArchOfficial which doesn't undermine my statement. Average russian did have to be creative to survive those years.
@@puraLusa Yes, true, but that would have still been in vain without external help. My point is that they do not fully understand the situation they are going into and it is ironic in a tragic kind of way.
Coca Cola is manufactured as a concentrated "syrup" in only one factory in the world and only bottled in the various countries. It's incredibly cheap to make so it can be sold at whatever price each market can afford. So it's possible they have tons of the concentrate remaining there and can still make a good profit selling at a lower price. Other beverages are probably similar. So they're different in some ways to your typical product.
1,5 $ for a butter. Have no idea what you're talking about, dude.
Recently the prices for everything actually decreased. Not for much but the difference is noticeable.
This is one of the most enlightening videos you have prepared and posted about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thank you for exposing the collaborationist American food and beverage companies. They should be boycotted here in the USA to send them a message that Americans support freedom, not authoritarianism.
Not a coke fan here, but it should be noted that those bottles of coca cola you see still being sold, are property of the supermarket chain. They are stocked up, already paid, and ready to be sold by the supermarket. Coca cola did check out from russia but doesn’t obviously have a say on their goods once they’ve changed hands. It really boggles my mind that the author of this video did not know that
Stop putting gas in your car, because you are collaborating
Various big box stores will bring in the largest amount of staff to stock at night when customer traffic dies down, so it is pretty minimal cost just let the public access the store over these wider hours, and having a register open during stocking time promotes staff picking up items for drinks/snacks or if last a full shift even a meal.
Sounds like we should be BOYCOTTING AMERICAN COMPANIES THAT CHOOSE TO CONTINUE BUSINESS AS USUAL IN RUSSIA. NOW! I HAVE STOPPED BUYING COCA COLA BUT NOW I WILL CONTINUE TO BOYCOTT ANY AND ALL COMPANIES THAT CONTINUE THIS BUSINESS PRACTICE. SPREAD THE WORD PEOPLE!
Prepare urself to an empty pantry then.
@@puraLusa I'll survive but thanks for your concern
@@loduke3905 yup, you'll be buying from said companies.
@@puraLusa I currently don't buy from "said" companies... seeing how you KNOW MY SPENDING HABITS AND WHAT I PURCHASE, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT RIGHT? Keep it movin "Susan"
If India and china buys Russian oil & gas, what you people think what Russia gets payback..Rubles and some luxury?
About the opening hours, here in Sweden where I live we have supermarkets open between 7 AM to 10 PM. Mostly those that have self service systems as you scan every product with a hand scanner or your mobile and then you pay at a automatic checkout. Then they don’t need so many cashiers. You get manually checkups randomly. Speeds up shopping greatly and during Covid it was great because you didn’t have to stand in cues!
selfservice checkouts sucks unless you are in for just snus and coke
@Bush Wackers yeah my snus dealer is less shadier
Thanks for the making of this video... I believe I know who I have to STOP buying from now... THEY LOST MY BUSINESS AS I SUPPORT UKRAINE 🇺🇦 💯...
Who cares
I've contacted Proctor and Gamble here in Australia to ask why they are still doing business in Russia. Perhaps if others did too they might review their dirty business. BTW Pringles aren't classified as a potato chip by the European Union as they don't contain enough potato!
Don't worry, as an australian living in Moscow, I asked my local store to remove Vegemite a long time ago. Dont forget to tell Dan Murphys, Stoli vodka is made in Latvia not Russia. They can put it back on the shelf.
@@TravellingwithRussell :)
It is a Perekrestok Supermarket, open from 0800 to 2400 (midnight), 7 days a week.
You are right. If you can read Cyrillic Russian is very readable for anyone who knows English, French or German. Many words are literally the foreign word written in Cyrillic.
The price will mostly be for a kilo, some items it will be for 100gm. For Americans who don't know, a kilo is 2.2lbs so you need to divide the price by 2.2 to get $ per lb.
Keep in mind, whilst some prices will seem cheap by western standards, Russian wages are so low that they can be a reach for many locals, and as has been pointed out inflation is savaging their ability to feed themselves. Especially now more and more Russians are losing their jobs due to the sanctions. Keep in mind this is a modern supermarket in a largely westernised city, not the many regional small villages left behind by the fall of Communism.
btw NB that the articles pointing out the venal hypocrisy of these companies breaking the sanctions was not published in the American press but in the British Press. American Media is not far off the Russian for lack of journalistic freedom and integrity.
Perekrestok is also even more expensive than Moscow's Azbuka Vkusa and no one ever goes there. I can only wish I had the same problems as an unemployed university student living only off of $250/mo scholarship because I can afford any food I desire, except maybe the delicacies like caviar. I am waaaaaay far from starving and the sanctions only benefit us, as they did back in 2014 when this entire bizarre sanction spree started. No one cares about some expensive shipments of broccoli either.
Keep up the great work Jake. Very illuminating reporting.!
This raises the question of whether embargoes have been enforced in the past and if they can be now. We have held an embargo against Cuba for nearly 70 years.
I watch his channel. He is great. He is very careful of his wording and his live broadcasts are chat free until the end where he gets a moderator and does not post chat on permanent archive. His overall tone is somewhat despare. People should watch his video on where he talks about the sentiment. He claims about a quarter of citizens object to war but at the dinner table, no one speaks of it.
well we have 24 hr supermarkets in Canada.
In the USA the ones that I know of are open 6am to 11pm.
Walmart used to be 24-hr before the pandemic, but no more.
Let’s go Jake! Solid vid
Thanks Ben! Good to know you are still watching!
Agree, and thank you for your voice and analysis.
Thank you jake, you have well and truly shown that Russia will not be truly sanctioned until all products that are still on shop shelves are removed.
Good to see you react to Konstantin”s content. He’s a smart guy making great content under genuinely difficult circumstances. Hopefully you can catch some of his daily livestreams 👍
I don't know how else to say this but prices are skyrocketing here too. We're in big trouble man.
No where near as bad as in Russia.
Right we're not doing super good either..
Ultimately, I think this is what might really mess up the Russian economy. A global downturn is looming, Russia will be weathering that storm alone while dealing with an a economy already struggling with sanctions and war. I hope I'm wrong as that'll mean a lot of pain at home too.
I like Konstantin i had a Conversation with him about good Tea ^^
Thank you Jake - you put things into much needed perspective.