Originally Posted by Pyewacket

Living in Finland, I see and hear a lot about this on a daily basis. Russia gets a tremendous amount of food from its neighbors and western countries. It's not just Polish apples. Finland also sells a lot of dairy products to Russia, enough so that they will be closing several processing plants here and laying off about 800 workers. (That doesn't sound like many in the US, but Finland only has about 5½ million people - or about 1/3 the size of Los Angeles County.) The Russians are not only blocking food exports, but they are also confiscating food being brought back in if they think it is more than reasonable consumption. No more crossing the border to stock up! Putin and the other politicos won't suffer -- they will still get all the Western foods they have come to know and love. It's the common folk who will not be able to afford to buy basic food - if they can find it. It will take time for Russia to get their act together. Putin also did this at the end of the growing season, which means a lot of crops can't be planted until spring. I don't know of too many successful governments that have let their people go hungry. As tense as it is here in Finland, it is a far sight better than Russia.