MOSCOW may be the most expensive city in the world on paper, but there are really two Moscows — one for oligarchs and rich expatriates, and one for everyone else.

The increasing number of expats working in Moscow for companies such as BP or Clifford Chance has helped to drive up flat rental prices in Moscow by around 20 per cent year-on-year. This is because companies allow budgets of up to £3,000 a month to rent apartments in the mistaken belief that this is how much it costs in Moscow.

They also provide employees with elite health services and other bonuses to compensate for the “hardship” of working in Moscow.

However, it is possible to live much more cheaply in the Russian capital than in London. A good apartment in the centre is available for about £300 a month. Travel is certainly cheaper — the metro costs 30p a ride and actually works. “Gypsy cabs”, which are unofficial, beaten-up old taxis, cost about £2 a ride, subject to negotiation. Train travel between cities is cheap. For example, a return to St Petersburg, 435 miles from Moscow, costs about £30.

One of the cheapest ways to eat is to buy food in one of Moscow’s outdoor markets, where, for example, caviar is a tenth of the London price. Or a meal costs only about £8 a head at one of Moscow’s many mid-range restaurants.

This is still living far more expensively than most Muscovites, including the millions of immigrants from Central Asia, who often share communal apartments and live on around £5 a day.

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Cabal seizes diamond riches to buy power
• White House gatecrashers got to the president