Needy residents of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug will be given electronic " The program is being prepared to expand to several more regions, The Moscow Times reports..

Social payments to needy Russians will be transferred to the card of the Mir payment system. It will be possible to spend them only in X5 stores - the company is interacting with the governments of several other Russian regions to introduce a system of electronic certificates, the report says..

" According to Rosstat, in 2022 the real disposable income of the population of Russia decreased by 1% after growing by 3.2% in 2021. The rise in prices last year reached 17.83% in annual terms..

As a result, the purchasing power of Russians decreased in 15 out of 24 basic food products.

So, before the war, in 2021, citizens of the Russian Federation with an average income could afford to buy 102.8 kg of beef per month, and in 2022 - only 97 kg. In terms of milk, Russian citizens have become poorer by 0.2 liters over the year, and in terms of granulated sugar - by 151 kg. The amount of salt available to Russians has decreased by 307 kg; tea - per 1.6 kg; margarine - per 45 kg.

In general, food sales decreased by 1.5% last year, and by another 3.4% in the first quarter of 2023.

In real terms, that is, taking into account accumulated inflation, the turnover of Russian retail fell below the levels of 2011, analysts calculated.

Recall that on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin promised that Russia would be able to provide itself with the necessary products.

“For grain, self-sufficiency is 185.4%, for meat — 101.6%, for fish — 153%, for vegetable oil — 211%,” Putin cited statistics.

By the way, before the invasion of Ukraine, Russians were assured that in Russia there was no need to introduce food cards to support the population.