country, eat less food, use less electricity,” First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told Davos elites at the World Economic Forum.
“If a Russian feels external pressure, he will never give his leader up,” said Shuvalov, who is believed to be one of the wealthiest government officials.
Patriarch Kirill also called for modesty as he addressed millions on January 7 when Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas.
“During crisis we overcome evil,” the powerful head of the Russian Orthodox Church said in televised remarks. He added that those who are thinking of starting a family should not put their plans on hold due to the crisis because Russians were never rich.
“This prosperity brought on by the froth of petrodollars, it really came just recently.”
A senator from the parliament’s upper house also chimed in, suggesting that women can use natural colours from vegetables to paint their faces like their foremothers did in ancient times.
“If they must use makeup on their lips -- no problem there is beet, it’s natural and chemicals would not enter the body,” Igor Chernyshev, deputy head of the social policies committee, said in December.
“And our women look better in lingerie made at a Moscow factory than that made in France.”
Online newspaper Gazeta.ru said officials made it increasingly clear to ordinary Russians that the crisis was a shared responsibility.
“The question is, are those who yesterday enthusiastically supported the takeover of Crimea ready to pay for it with a sharp decline in living standards?”
Whether they are ready or not, Russians now spend more on food after inflation reached double digits and the ruble lost half its value against the dollar.
According to pollsters Synovate Comcon, 55 percent of residents of cities with a population of over 1 million saved on food for their New Year’s table, up 12 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2009 when Russians struggled with the effects of the global financial crisis.
Many say they don’t mind making sacrifices.
“Figuratively speaking, I am ready to use beet instead of makeup for my lips,” said Tatyana Khrolenko, 75. “We must help Donetsk and Lugansk,” she said, referring to east Ukrainian rebel strongholds battling Ukrainian forces.