September 21, 2025

An Essential Discount


An Essential Discount
Making feasts more feasible? The RussianLife files

On September 17, Vladimir Kashin, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, said in an interview that a bill will be submitted to Russia's legislative body to limit markups on five "essential goods."

The move comes as many are questioning the health of Russia's economy.

The bill, similar to earlier price-limiting ones proposed by Russia's Communist Party, will limit markups to 10% on bakery, dairy, and cereal products, among others. Kashin called for "serious measures to curb price increases for these goods."

Kashin's remarks are set against a backdrop of Russia's high inflation and rising cost of living. Most experts see a looming economic crisis brought on by years of international sanctions and high government spending, all rooted in Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Kashin tempered his comments by saying that price controls like those he's proposing hurt economic producers and can distort pricing, still ultimately hurting the consumer. Still, a crackdown on markups is another sign that all is not well when it comes to the state of the Russian economy.

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Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

A Taste of Russia
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A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

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Life Stories
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Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

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White Magic
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White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

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