The Average Russian’s Diet Is No Better Than a Soldier’s Wartime Rations

[Delenda Carthago]

The (Continuing) Russian Economic Miracle

Rubric: English
Tags: Russia
Thursday, 15 September 2011
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June 2, 2011
Alexandra Bayazitova & Maria Zhebit

The Average Russian’s Diet Is No Better Than a Soldier’s Wartime Rations
Starting tomorrow, the minimum [monthly] wage in Russia will be increased by 6.5% to 4,611 rubles [approximately 11o euros]. It will thus be higher than the current cost of the consumer basket: this minimum selection of basic foodstuffs is now priced at just over three thousand rubles in Moscow. True, the contents of the basket have remained unchanged since 2006 and, despite assurances by the authorities that living standards have grown over the past six years, the diet of the average Russian looks no better than that of a German POW in 1941.
In the last ten years, the minimum wage has grown thirty-two times. Under current law, the minimum wage should not be less than the subsistence minimum, i.e., the value of the consumer basket. Its content has remained unchanged since 2006.
The average Russian citizen, according to the authorities, should eat 366 grams of bread or pasta per day. At the same time, in 1941, the rations for a German prisoner of war, whether in a prison camp or in transit, was almost twice as much — 600 grams. In daily terms, the Germans received three times more fish, a bit more vegetables, and four times more “salt, tea and spices.”
On the other hand, the minimum rations of Russians now include fruit (63 grams per day), eggs and milk, which German POWs were cheated out of. Russians are also supposed to have twice as much meat; Muscovites, almost three times more. We can rejoice in the fact that the Russians should receive, according to the authorities, 40 grams more sweets than German POWs during the war, and consume 16 grams more vegetable oil. Although, in contrast to the Russia-wide basket, the rations of the Germans also included flour, tomato puree, and during the best periods, peas, beans, dried fruit, and coffee.


[Title: Food Norms in the Consumer Basket and the Prison Camp Rations of a German POW
Headings: Muscovite's Basket (2011) // A Russian's Basket (2011) // Ration of German POW (1941)
All quantities given in grams.
List of food types: Bread and pasta; vegetables and potatoes; meat; fish; sweets; vegetable oil; salt, tea, and spices
Sources: Federal Russian Law No. 332 from December 8, 2010; NKVD, Directorate for War Prisoners and Interned Persons, Guidelines Bulletin No. 25/6519; Law "On the Consumer Basket in the City of Moscow, 2011-2012]

Editor’s Note.
Thanks to the members of the Chto Delat mailing list for pointing out this eye-opening article. In this connection, one of them writes:

It should be added that the income of 13% of the [Russian] population (according to Wikipedia) is lower than the minimum wage (below the poverty line). That is, it is not the “average” Russian we’re talking about here. According to official statistics, “average” Russians have a monthly income of 24 thousand rubles [i.e., approximately 575 euros]. Official statistics have nothing to say about what remains of this average if we deduct from the total income of the population the share earned by the thirteen percent of Russians who are wealthy.


http://inter.antifa.ru/page/the-cont...onomic-miracle