The town of Buzuluk is little known even in Russia itself. It has 80,000 inhabitants, is close to the border with Kazakhstan, and is 1,200 km from Moscow - i.e. it is a deep Russian province. The town would have remained unnoticed if it were not for a video from a small supermarket and a poster, which the German public media ZDF reports on.
"Thanks to him, prices in 2026 rose. Don't be shy about expressing your gratitude to him," the poster reads. The man's face is pixelated, but it is easy to recognize, as is the office he is in - the German public media continues and explains that it is about President Vladimir Putin. It is therefore not surprising that the video from Buzuluk caused a furore and brought unexpected fame to the town.
Such direct criticism of the president is undesirable and rarely seen in Russia. In the video, some customers insist that the cashier immediately take down the poster because it was an “insult”. In any case, it is a fact that inflation in Russia is far above the desired values, notes ZDF. At the beginning of the war, it jumped to 18%, and in 2025 it was at times 10 percent, and although the situation calmed down towards the end of the year, it is still around five percent.
The Russian middle class is the most affected
The increase in inflation is mainly due to high government spending, especially on armaments, to sharply increased wages - especially in the military sector, as well as to sanctions. None of this is new - what is new is that more and more people in Russia are really feeling the inflation in their pockets, the German public media outlet points out.
"Food inflation is higher than inflation in general", economic expert Alexander Kolyandr told ZDF. And this means that people with lower incomes are the most seriously affected. Moreover, until recently, inflation and wages grew in parallel, but now wages are stagnating and inflation is becoming more and more noticeable.
People complain about the high prices
Complaints on Telegram are also becoming more frequent: nervous customers calculate how much prices have increased in the meantime. A photo of Dubai chocolate, which was sold in sealed boxes because it was stolen a lot, was also published. And one woman notes that the new year has started with rising prices again.
This is clearly not enough to lead to real protests among the population, ZDF points out, adding that Russians have seen worse. The economic crisis of the 1990s has not yet been forgotten.
Putin boasts of successes in the fight against inflation
Nevertheless, the Kremlin is trying to limit the population's discontent, says Kolyandr. "As far as I can tell, limiting inflation is one of Putin's priorities at the moment."
That is why Putin showed concern at his annual press conference in late December, the German public media recalls. He is aware of the problem, citing the price of eggs, which fell by almost 16 percent last year.
In December - five percent inflation
In Buzuluk, all this hardly sounds convincing. In the video, the cashier ironically counters the demands to remove the poster with the question: "And is there no freedom in the country?". After a complaint was filed against the poster, an investigation was conducted - but no evidence of irregularities was found.
Russian channels on Telegram are spreading information about a "linguistic investigation" by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which, however, did not establish any violations of the law. Therefore, for now, the citizens of Buzuluk will continue to live with the poster, and the people of Russia - with high inflation.
Author: Felix Klauser