This is CBSI on the world.

I'm John Batchel.

I welcome Michael Bernstam, my guide on the Russian people under sanctions, severe sanctions,

since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

What does it look like?

Michael, for months now, has educated us about the energy costs, exporting energy, and the price of oil and the price of natural gas.

Now we turn to something that everybody can identify with. Butter, the cost of butter. The Financial Times posted in these last days a video and then

an explanation of what we're watching. Two men, dressed all in black, break into a store.

One man goes for the cash register. The other man steals 20 kilograms of butter.

That's right, butter.

Michael, a very good evening to you.

Why did he steal butter?

What does that tell us about the Russian economy here, winter coming on?

Good evening to you.

Good evening to you.

Thank you.

Actually, this kind of anecdotes, they're like the tip of the icebergs. They contain a lot of economics underneath. First of all, what do people steal? In very poor countries, starved countries, they still bread, they're still potatoes. In the United States, there is a lot of shoplifting,

but they still expensive products, perfume and jewelry. In Russia it is butter. Used to be eggs. Now it is butter.

And to protect butter from theft, the Russians found that they used to have lots of spare

boxes for caviar, caviar used to be stolen, and now they use these boxes and shelves to protect

butter from theft.

From October 23 to October 24, by the official statistics, the price of butter increased

...