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Kazakhstan has agreed to help Russia alleviate its chronic shortage of chicken eggs only to spark grumbling from domestic consumers in border areas who now say there is not enough for them to buy. The pledge of assistance arrived at a meeting on trade issues between Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin and his Russian counterpart, Alexei Overchuk, in Astana on January 17. Eggs featured on the agenda. As the Russian state statistics service has reported, the price of the commodity soared by more than 61 percent last year, prompting the government in Moscow to adopt some radical fixes. One...

For a microcosm of how the war in Ukraine has warped Russia’s economy, look no further than a carton of eggs. The grocery staple has been in short supply in recent months and prices have skyrocketed, prompting Russians from Belgorod to Siberia to form lines reminiscent of Soviet times. President Vladimir Putin has publicly apologized, blaming the egg shock on the government. Last month, a poultry-farm boss known as “the Egg King” survived an assassination attempt shortly after authorities started investigating his farm due to high prices. Behind the soaring price tag—up around 60% in December from a year earlier,...

As the war in Ukraine rages on, Vladimir Putin has another battle on his hands: the one to rein in soaring egg prices. Moscow is scrambling to contain a flare-up in basic food costs that's driven up inflation and caused long queues outside supermarkets that hearken back to when the country was a part of the Soviet Union. Eggs have come to symbolize the economic disruption that Russia is facing, with prices jumping 42% in the 12 months prior to November 2023, per data from the country's statistics agency Rosstat. They've become so expensive that shops in some regions are...

Ukraine said on Monday that it downed two Russian military command aircraft over the Sea of Asov, saying it had carried out a 'successful' mission against Moscow's forces. Officials said the country's air force took out an A-50 radar-detection plane worth £260 million, as well as an IL-22 aerial command plane, as they flew over the Sea of Azov on Sunday. The Sea of Azov lies between Russia and Ukraine, but Moscow controls its entire coast after seizing large swathes of southeastern Ukraine during its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014. 'Minus an enemy long-range radar detection aircraft, A-50,...

Russian-state television pundit Aleksandr Sytin recently warned that life "keeps getting worse" in Russia amid its war with Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, claiming to seek the "denazification" of the Eastern European country's government and hoping for a quick victory. Nearly two years later, Ukraine's stronger-than-anticipated defense effort has blocked Russian advances, and both sides continue fighting for control of eastern Ukrainian territory. The Russian military has faced myriad challenges amid the conflict, including troubles recruiting and maintaining well-trained, disciplined troops. Military analysts have noted that Putin's troops lack motivation, and questions...

In Siberia's Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city, a major hot-water main burst, sending cascades of steaming water rushing through frozen streets and cutting off heating to scores of buildings -- and thousands of people -- amid Arctic temperatures. In the Pacific port of Vladivostok, some 3,000 people were left in the bitter cold after an above-ground heating pipeline ruptured, spewing similar volumes of steaming water. And nine hours to the west, in a string of Moscow suburbs, more than 150,000 people shivered -- and complained vociferously -- when another municipal heating pipe broke down, with engineers rushing to dig up the...

Russia's egg shortage is being exacerbated by bird flu-riddled imports from Turkey, one of the country's biggest trading partners and a NATO member, according to a recent report citing a Russian government official. More than one-fifth of the eggs imported from Turkey were found to be infected with the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza, as well as other dangerous ailments including salmonella and botulism, Russian authorities warned. -snip- Russia's attempt to pivot to Turkey for emergency egg supplies in January now appears to have backfired, as the delivery of the first batch of Turkish eggs was promptly followed by reports...

The Russian government is taking urgent measures to stabilise the situation in the local egg market where prices have soared more than 40% this year. Egg farmers claim that the industry is in “a perfect storm”. -snip- Russia’s federal veterinary watchdog Rosselhoznadzor recently greenlighted egg imports from Turkey. This country, alongside Azerbaijan, is expected to help Russia to fill the gap in the egg market, the agricultural ministry commented. The price hike has happened due to a perfect storm in the Russian egg industry, Leonid Kkolod, an independent agricultural analyst, told the local press. Over the past 2 years, Russian...

Russia's egg crisis spiraled out of control this week after an attempt was made on the life of the head of a poultry farm in the Voronezh region, with prices for the staple food item continuing to climb. Gennady Shiryaev, the 59-year-old head of the Tretyakov Poultry Farm, the largest in the western Voronezh region, was driving home when an unknown person fired two shots at his car. Shiryaev told Russian news outlet Kommersant that he wasn't injured in the assassination attempt. "There were two shots, it didn't hit me," Shiryaev said. Russia has seen an unprecedented surge in egg...

Russian YouTube vlogger Marina investigates the alleged egg shortage in Russia at a Globus supermarket in Moscow, finds that the shelves are fully stocked and prices are only slighter higher than they were two months ago.