Russia: Shops to limit food sales as sanctions start to wreak havoc

What a clickbait headline :-) I'm in Russia, and I confirm that major retail chains limited sugar and flour sales (as I witnessed today in some big chain supermarkets, you can buy no more than 2 pounds of sugar or no more than 20 pounds in another one, this figure vary), but that's due to many small stores are buying in large quantities and then resell for more money. It was somehow mitigated by not allowing more than a 10% margin from yesterday. If you're an owner of a small store and they catch you, you can get a hefty fine.

But I still got my Starbucks Nespresso capsules today for the same price I got 'em half a year ago, and there's no panic and not many people in supermarkets. Visa/Mastercard is working inside Russia as usual. We have our own financial messaging system. I think local banks are celebrating that they don't have to pay any fees to Visa/Mastercard anymore.

My personal qualm is with Paypal. I have a niece in Ukraine (she is a Ukrainian citizen and was born in Ukraine). Last week my only way to help her and her 2 daughters were to send money via Paypal (All transfers between Russia and Ukraine stopped working on March 1st. Her husband is stuck in Moscow and can't return for now). But now Paypal stopped working in Russia. And the funny thing is less than 1% of the population uses Paypal here. Many don't know a bit about it. Local payment systems like Qiwi and Юmoney are widespread and popular.

The West has weaponised financial and economic forces against Russia. The flip side is that it can backfire.

If I were a betting person, I would wager that these economic sanctions will hurt the West more than Russia. And especially the United States as we have the biggest economy and have more to lose as our bets are the biggest.

Already state pension funds invested in Russian banks and bonds are floundering. And sanctions are forcing state govts to withdraw pension fund investments in Russia and they are advising all to get it out. The impact of this is going to be devastating to America.

We weaponised the $$$. It’s going to come back to get us. Tough times ahead.