EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (RUSSIA EDITION): ‘It’s never been so bad.’ Russia is threatened with a record loss of winter crops. “Harvest problems have become one of the reasons for the acceleration of inflation, said Alexander Isakov, an economist for Russia at Bloomberg Economics. According to Rosstat, by the end of November, the growth rate of food prices reached 10.2% and became a record in almost two years, and some basic food products soared in price by tens of percent: potatoes – by 78%, cabbage – by 31%, beets – by 27%, butter – by 31%.”