For a generation of Russians who queued daily in the snow for the most basic of staples, the symbolism of a bare supermarket shelf is so powerful that it could potentially destroy the reputation of Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, as saviour of the world's largest country.
The shortages are not yet widespread. Even so, goods have begun to vanish from dozens of Moscow supermarkets over the past fortnight.
At a branch of the supermarket chain Samokhval in southwestern Moscow, a handful of shoppers pushed their trolleys through empty rows of shelves that once groaned under the weight of imported wares.
Peacenik got this story from his "empty grocery shelves" google alert. These alerts make Peacenik increasingly nervous. Peacnik expects to track the geographic distribution of these alerts in the days ahead. Peacenik expects to track the alerts right around the world, right to Peacenik's corner store. Have you been to a grocery store today?
