Russia is preparing to return to food stamps. The poor have no food

“People in need will know that under all circumstances they will be provided with an adequate minimum of food and other goods necessary for life,” praised Aksakov’s idea. However, he did not specify what the monthly limit of food stamps could be. However, according to him, the state “could pay subsidies to food suppliers in the regions and thus compensate at least part of the costs of this aid”.

The governor of Besprozvanny said that food stamps in the Kaliningrad region will start working in 2025. First of all, they will be distributed to pensioners with incomes below the subsistence minimum. “The list of beneficiaries will most likely include large families and other vulnerable categories of citizens,” he added.

At the same time, the Kaliningrad exclave had food stamps for the socially weak already at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. From April to July 2022, non-working seniors and large families were entitled to them. It was possible to get up to 6,000 rubles (roughly 1,400 crowns) for one set.

According to The Moscow Times, Russia’s Ministry of Economy reports that inflation in the country as of the beginning of December was 9.2 percent, the highest since February 2023. According to alternative indicators from Romir, which estimates inflation based on actual purchases by Russian households, from January to September inflation rose to 13.7 percent.

Food prices rose particularly sharply. For example, the price of potatoes has risen by an almost unbelievable 85 percent since the beginning of the year, onions by 40 percent, cabbage by 34 percent, milk, sour cream and apples by 17 percent. The price of butter rose by 33 percent from January 1, 2024, which is the biggest price increase since 2007. In the same period, the price of lamb rose by 22 percent, bread by 13 percent.

Authorities in some regions tried to introduce food stamps earlier. For example, in 2023 they were in the city of Svobodny and Tsiolkovsky in the Amur region. The tickets had a monthly limit of 2,000 rubles (roughly 436 crowns) per person with income below the subsistence minimum. Electronic food tickets with similar parameters were introduced last year by the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, while Kamchatka introduced tickets for fish meat.

According to the website, in order for food stamps for the socially weak to become a federal program, it is first of all necessary to determine the exact number of people with low incomes and to calculate how much money from the budget will be needed for such support. “Rosstat indicates that the number of poor Russians has decreased. But there are 11.8 million people living in Russia with incomes below the subsistence minimum, which amounted to 15,679 rubles (roughly 3,400 crowns) in the third quarter of 2024,” recalled investment advisor Julija Kuznětsová, according to the website.

According to the chairman of the board of directors of the International Confederation of Consumer Societies (ConfOP), Dmitry Janin, the introduction of food stamps could help 18 million Russians who live in poverty. He believes that the program would be successful if each such person received 3,000 rubles (roughly 650 crowns) a month to buy food, and this money could only be spent on food. He estimated the state’s annual expenditure for these purposes at 720 billion rubles (almost 156 billion crowns), which “the state budget should absorb without difficulty”.

According to The Moscow Times, experts agree that a set of tickets for families with children should include vouchers for bread, milk, cereals, meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, as well as baby food. They estimate the cost of one set at 6,000 rubles (roughly 1,400 crowns).