Russian economy meltdown ‘isn't stopping Brits flocking to Moscow for jobs'

As Russia’s brutal military campaign in Ukraine continues to rage, there are near-daily reports of economic turmoil caused by the international community’s sanctions.

However, Brits living in Moscow claim reports that wild shoplifting is taking place in response to a sharp rise in food prices or that there is some type of "butter armageddon” wreaking havoc are wide of the mark.

“It’s nonsense,” claimed Catrin Vaughan, who left her small village in Wales for a job looking after Russian billionaires’ children.

“Honestly, they've got health food shops, lower class supermarkets and supermarkets for posh people, like they've got their own like Waitrose or Aldi.

“They've got really nice stuff. It’s all produced here, the butter, bread, everything.”

The expat did acknowledge that financial sanctions from the West did make it tougher to move cash from Russia, but felt there were exaggerations.

She added: “You just can't transfer money [abroad] right now [but] I think there’s a little bit of fear-mongering. I don't follow the economy [but it seems better than people are saying].”

Vaughan, who earns a huge salary nannying for Russia’s elite, suggested the stories about Russian economic collapse came from unresolved Cold War fears about the east.

“Russia is a superpower [and], I mean, Britain will always go with America [against them],” she added.

“It's always an East-West battle and because Russia is harder to visit people don't actually see what it's like.

“People have told me that in the 90s there was no food on the shelves. But it’s not like that now.

“Belarus [where I worked before] I found to be in a much, much poorer and more desperate state.

“But you see more traditional values being maintained in these countries, Russians will grow lots of vegetables that they share and make a lot of food that they preserve.”

Vaughan has no regrets about heading to Russia for work and is far from alone.

Firmin Shepherd, 43, from Canterbury, who also rejected the idea that Russia was in economic decline, continues to live in the Russian capital and work for the country’s wealthiest people.

He believes Britain’s perception of Russia as a mysterious place was a very old idea, but one that isn’t really true.

“There is the [famous] Winston Churchill quote that Russia is ‘a mystery in a riddle in an enigma’,” he said.

“But there’s a second part to that quote as well, which is ‘you can understand Russia through the prism of national interest’.”

Nevertheless, reports continue to suggest that Russia is paying the price for Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.

In the past few months, there have been suggestions that the property market is crashing and that petrol prices are through the roof.

This comes despite the Russian president promising the economy would not suffer because of his war.

“You know, there is a well-known expression: guns instead of butter,” he said in February 2023.

“The country’s defence is, of course, the most important priority, but in solving strategic tasks in this area, we must not repeat past mistakes; we must not destroy our own economy.”