Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that inspections of pharmacies in Russia had revealed drug shortages as well as price hikes, Russian state news agency TASS reported, as cited by CNN.

“The truth is that, first of all, prices have recently risen and there has been a certain shortage of some medicines, despite the fact that we are seeing an increase in the production of pharmaceuticals,” Putin said during a virtual meeting with deputies. the Russian government.

“During the first three quarters of last year, there was an increase of about 22 percent, and 60 percent of our market is domestically produced drugs,” Putin said, according to TASS.

“However, some medicines are in short supply, and their prices have increased,” added the head of the Kremlin.

Many shops in Moscow have closed as Russian businesses grapple with the economic fallout from sweeping Western sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Although the shelves of most stores remain well-stocked, Western products are becoming increasingly rare and very expensive, from which further price increases have already hit many Russian households, according to CNN.

___

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro