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Russians faced with a growing pile of sanctions imposed in the wake of the Ukrainian invasion are stocking up on antidepressants, contraceptives and sleeping pills.
Residents of the country purchased 270.5 million of the items, worth $1.04 billion or 98.6 billion rubles, between February 28 and March 13, Reuters reported, citing sales data collected by analytical company DSM Group. The sales data for the nearly two-week period was not far from the figures for all of January, when Russians bought 288 million medical items from pharmacies for 100 billion rubles in the entire month.
The stockpiling of medication and medical items highlights the mounting stress among Russian civilians faced with rising prices due to sweeping sanctions and a plummet in the Russian ruble's value.
Shortages of staple food goods like sugar and buckwheat have been reported across Russia, so much so that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned civilians last week to avoid panic buying, The Moscow Times reported.
"Russians have absolutely no need to run to the shops and buy-up buckwheat, sugar and toilet paper," Peskov was quoted in the report. "The fuss around supplies in food stores is extremely emotional."
The DSM data, which was collected for the Russian Vedomosti newspaper, showed that demand for both foreign-made drugs and Russian-made items increased, according to Reuters. More specifically, demand for antidepressants, contraceptives, sleeping pills, insulin, hormones, cancer medication and heart drugs saw a steep uptick.
The surge in demand for medical items has coincided with a rise in the prices of certain foods in Russia since the Western sanctions were imposed. Since the first day of March, for example, the price of sugar has increased 15 percent, the price of tomatoes has increased 17 percent and the price of bananas has increased 16 percent, the Turkey-based Daily Sabah reported.
Russia's economic woes could worsen further after the U.S., in conjunction with the European Union and Group of Seven (G7), announced a new set of sanctions Thursday. The new economic measures target more than 400 individuals and entities, including more Russian elites, Russian defense companies and members of Russia's Duma, or the lower house of parliament.
"As long as President Putin continues this war, the United States and allies and partners are committed to ensuring the Russian government feels the compounding effects of our current and future economic actions," the White House said in a statement announcing the sanctions.
The statement also said that G7 leaders and the European Union will continue their joint work to "blunt Russia's ability to deploy its international reserves to prop up Russia's economy and fund Putin's war, including by making clear that any transaction involving gold related to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is covered by existing sanctions."
Newsweek has reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Economic Development for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
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Update 03/24/22, 4:55 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and background.
About the writer
Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more