A Russian senator has advised women to start using beetroot to color their lips instead of lipstick to avoid the high price of imported cosmetics.
"Well, if you really want to color you lips — why not beets? They're natural, no chemicals will wind up in your body," Igor Chernyshev, the deputy chairman of the Federation Council's Social Policy Committee, told regional news portal Regions.ru last week.
"And our women will look more beautiful in lingerie from a Moscow factory than in French [underwear]," the lawmaker added.
Chernyshev's styling tips came in response to news that small business association Opora Rossii might ask authorities to legalize pegging the price of certain products to foreign currencies — a move which would see considerable price hikes in Russia, where inflation is raging due to this year's drastic devaluation of the ruble.
"In such a situation, the less people think about the foreign currency, the better for them — their health will be stronger," Chernyshev was cited as saying, adding that "in such an unstable situation there is a great risk of making the people mentally ill."
In the current conditions, he said, it is necessary to come up with an alternative solution for companies who import goods to Russia that aren't manufactured domestically.
Radio station Govorit Moskva, or Moscow Speaks, reported on Dec. 14 that certain stores had begun pricing goods in foreign currencies to avoid losses from the ruble's precipitous devaluation of about 40 percent against the U.S. dollar this year.
Alexei Nemeryuk, the head of the city's department of trade and services, denounced the practice, calling it impermissible and against the law.
Russia's Economic Development Ministry also expressed disapproval for the move, saying it "confuses consumers" more than anything else.
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