MOSCOW, August 14. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian government views an option of opening up state food reserves with the aim of maintaining domestic food market stability following the recently introduced food imports embargo imposed on the West, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on Thursday.
“If the need arises, we must engage resources from the state reserves, which have necessary kinds of products,” Dvorkovich said.
The official also said that the regional, as well as federal, authorities must monitor all ungrounded information either reported by media or posted on social networks concerning unverified price hikes on food products.
“There must be a reaction to negative information and negative facts, which might appear in all kinds of sources - in the press, in social networks and other sources of information,” he said. “Such negative facts may vary from empty shelves in grocery stores, which can be the result of panic-buying, to spontaneous price hikes on certain products.”
The deputy premier said empty shelves in grocery stores may be the result of regular circumstances, for instance the result of the high demand for food products on weekends.
“All information must be checked,” he said. “The Federal Antimonopoly Service must be engaged only in cases, when the information was verified.”