The Sun 21:20, 3 Sep 2022 Updated: 21:28, 3 Sep 2022

WELCOME to sanctions-hit Russia – where heating bills and fuel prices are a fraction of those in Britain.

Food costs are also coming down every month and Vladimir Putin’s people are partying as if there is no war.

Down Down — Prices Our Down – In Russia

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Boris Johnson vowed that Western sanctions would “hobble the Russian economy”.

In March, Liz Truss as Foreign Secretary announced 65 sanctions and fiercely declared: “Putin should be under no illusions. We are united with our allies and will keep tightening the screw on the Russian economy to help ensure he fails in Ukraine. There will be no let-up.”

But six months on, while we are paying the price for the invasion with a crippling cost-of-living crisis, locals in Moscow are upbeat.

It is not surprising. Despite claims they would face a severe food shortage, shoppers in Pyaterochka, Russia’s answer to Tesco, load their trolleys high with groceries half the price of ours.

In August the price of food in the UK rose at its fastest rate since the economic crash in 2008, jumping to 10.5 per cent compared to the year before.

In July, food inflation had accelerated to 9.3 per cent as the war in Ukraine and consequent rise in the price of animal feed, fertiliser, wheat and vegetable oils placed mounting pressure on prices.

But it is a very different picture in Moscow where, since the start of the year, the price of food has dropped 11.3 per cent.