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Cut prices! Putin drops by on supermarket

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-25 17:03

MOSCOW: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin paid a surprise visit to a Moscow supermarket, instructing startled managers to lower their prices, according to the press.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (seen here in 2007) paid a surprise visit to a Moscow supermarket, instructing startled managers to lower their prices, according to the press. The visit appeared to be the latest in a series of media stunts by Russia's strongman to show the public that the government is in control of a financial crisis that still shows no sign of easing. [Agencies]

The visit appeared to be the latest in a series of media stunts by Russia's strongman to show the public that the government is in control of a financial crisis that still shows no sign of easing.

Putin broke off a formal meeting on the retail trade at his offices late Wednesday to take the participants to a nearby branch of the Perekrestok supermarket, one of Russia's biggest retail chains.

Striding around the aisles with top managers from the company and food producers in tow, Putin asked why the selling prices of goods were often so much higher than the producer price.

"Why do your sausages cost 240 rubles (7.5 dollars)? Is that normal?," Putin asked, according to the Kommersant daily.

"But these are high quality sausages," replied the managing director of corporate relations for the X5 Retail Group that owns Perekrestok, Yuri Kobaladze. "Look, these ones are just 49 rubles."

"Too expensive," retorted Putin.

"No...," said Kobaladze, who is a former head of the public relations department of foreign intelligence.

"I can show you your mark-up," replied Putin, brandishing a piece of paper. "Look at this kind of sausage, your mark-up is 52 percent!"

Worse was to come when the prime minister moved on to a cabinet with pork products, where Putin objected that the supermarket had more than doubled the original price of the goods.

"This is twice as much. Is this normal? It's very high," said Putin.

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"Tomorrow we will cut the price," promised Kobaladze.

Back at the meeting at the government offices, Putin said a better balance had to be found between producers, retailers and consumers in the industry. "Only then can we achieve social fairness," he said according to Interfax.

The supermarket swoop came three weeks after Putin staged a dramatic visit to a town suffering from the halt in production at cement factories, famously throwing a pen at oligarch Oleg Deripaska and making him sign a contract.

The public admonishment of executives comes as Russia continues to grapple with an economic crisis that has seen GDP contract by 11 percent in May from the same period the year earlier.