TENSIONS between Moscow and Kiev have triggered panic buying of salt, pushing up prices by up to 20 times and emptying shelves in stores across Russia in scenes reminiscent of the Soviet era.

The frantic stockpiling appears to have begun when a Russian official suggested this month that Ukraine would cut its salt supplies to Russia in retaliation for Moscow raising its gas prices.

Ukraine, which provides more than 40 per cent of Russia’s salt, has not threatened such a move, although Russia has also banned imports of Ukrainian meat and dairy products.

But for many Russians, the rumour conjured dark memories of queueing outside food shops for hours in the snow in Soviet times. Women would often carry around string bags on the off-chance that they found something for sale that they needed.

A shortage of salt would be disturbing for Russians as it is traditionally offered with bread in wedding and welcome ceremonies, and is commonly used for preserving cucumbers and other vegetables.

In the central Tula region, where the official made his throwaway remark, people mobbed stores and markets, pushing salt prices up from 3 roubles per kilo to 60 roubles (£1.20).

Sergei Kuznetsov, head of Tula’s department of business and markets, said that the panic buyers were mostly elderly. “It’s mostly because of the collective memory from the war years, when salt was one of the things that was most scarce and most in demand,” he told The Times. “We were inundated with calls from old people who hadn’t even been in the stores. They didn’t see for themselves that there was not enough salt. They just panicked.” He said he did not know which official had made the remarks that prompted the crisis.

The panic spread to the surrounding areas over the course of last week and by the weekend had reached Moscow — despite reassurances from officials that warehouses were well stocked. At a supermarket on Dorogomilovsky Street in central Moscow, only expensive imported sea salt was left on the shelves.

“We ran out of ordinary salt last week,” said a manager, who gave her name as Oksana. “I don’t know why people are buying so much.”

State-controlled television has also shown people queuing for salt in the town of Zheleznodorozhny, near Moscow. Signs saying “no salt” have been put up in shops in the regions of Belgorod, Oryol, Kursk, Tambov and Kaluga, according to Interfax. In some areas, the salt crisis had triggered panic buying of other staples such as sugar and flour, Russian media reported.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy said yesterday that it had doubled its salt exports to Russia in the past few days. Ukraine exports 1.97 million tonnes of salt to Russia, which consumes about 4.5 million tonnes annually.

Aleksander Zaturanov, the commercial director for Artemsol, Ukraine’s biggest salt producer, said that his company had increased its supplies to Russia by 50 per cent. “Our position is that we must give as much as people want,” hesaid. “But at the same time, we understand that people cannot eat more than they eat, so what will they do with the salt? Of course, it’s always good when you can sell more, but chaos is never welcome.”

The “salt fever” follows a national vodka crisis in January, when a bureaucratic bungle caused almost every vodka factory in Russia to shut down for the month. The Government had introduced alcohol excise stamps at the beginning of the year. But it failed to deliver them to producers until halfway through February, by which time vodka stocks were running low.

The Russian Government raised the spectre of further shortages and price rises yesterday, announcing that the unusually harsh winter had destroyed 30 per cent of winter crops.

A SERIOUS BUSINESS

1991 Production drops to 8 million tonnes after the Soviet collapse