A high-end range of goods that have disappeared from the Russian market, such as smartphones, expensive watches, jewellery, cosmetics and perfumes, are to be sold in special duty-free shops managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow and Petersburg from September.
The authorities apparently want to get the notorious "Beryozka" shops of the Soviet Union, the model for the Intershop chain for deficit items in the former GDR, out of the woods.
Like those, the special shops remain closed to the general public, and only people who can identify themselves as diplomats, employees of foreign organizations or their relatives are allowed to shop there – even for euros or dollars.
Vice-Chairman of the Association of Russian Diplomats Valery Eroshkin stressed that
One of the most painful losses for the Russian population is undoubtedly the Ikea furniture store.
The ex-dramaturg of the Moscow Gogol Center, which was closed by the authorities, Valery Pecheykin, has already sketched a script for a family farce, in which parents urge their beautiful, smart daughter not to marry her beautiful, smart fiancé, but a nasty guy, because the still managed to set up his apartment with Ikea furniture.
Grandma wants the bath towel from the furniture store
The grandmother, who is dying and desperately wants to be buried in the Badelaken Frederiksjön, sets a dramatic accent.
Now Russia's prison authority, which lets prisoners produce furniture, among other things, practically free of charge, has claimed the market segment.
The head of the labor rehabilitation department, Colonel Ivan Sharkov, assured that the furniture made in penal colonies was both better quality and cheaper than Ikea's.
The prison authority, which is reporting a steep increase in its furniture production, is open to initiating business, explained Sharkov.
Meanwhile, the literary-savvy Pecheykin observes that his Uniqlo coat, which he actually didn't like, has seen its value increase as a result of the Japanese company's departure.
Recently, strangers have been complimenting him because this look has become unattainable for them, he reports on Facebook.
Finally he understands the happiness of Akaki Akakievich, the hero of Gogol's "Mantle", about his garment.
But at the same time Peschejkin also sees, as in the near future, only a few turns of the spiral of sanctions further, on a lonely winter evening, just like in Gogol's novella, strong man's hands will tear the deficit treasure from his shoulders.