One of the symptoms of ­Russia’s booming inflation, according to a popular St Petersburg shoppers’ website, is the “devaluation of the Russian kilogramme”. It refers to the practice that has become common this year for supermarkets to list prices for meat and produce in 100 gramme units instead of kilogrammes, “so as not to shock the citizenry”.

Travel agents, meanwhile, are enjoying flourishing demand for beach vacations abroad but little for the usually popular domestic Black Sea coast. A week in Russia’s seaside resort of Sochi has become more expensive, air travel included, than a week in Egypt. “Our tourists, who previously chose to vacation at home in order to economise, now go abroad for the same purpose,” says travel.ru, a tourism website.