Soviet City in Grip of a Bread Panic : Shortages: Hoarding begins in St. Petersburg in response to rumors of rationing. Government officials deny the reports.

In the starkest sign yet that fear of a winter famine is starting to grip this crumbling nation, panic buying and hoarding of bread has begun here in response to rumors that bread rationing may soon be imposed on the Soviet Union’s second-largest city.

The bread panic here appears far worse than any that has hit Moscow so far this fall and provides dramatic evidence that Soviet consumers are rapidly losing faith in their nation’s ability to feed itself during the long winter months.

Bread has always played a critical role in the Soviet psyche, and the people have often judged their personal well-being and the state of the nation based on whether there were adequate bread supplies. In fact, bread is so important politically that a bread shortage this winter could deal a severe blow to the new democratic government.

“When people see bread, they believe there is no hunger,” said shopper Katarina Ployanskaya. “When there is no bread, they believe there is hunger.”

Government officials in St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad, sought to calm the city, insisting that there is no reason for the panic. “The people should not worry; we have enough flour for bread,” Vice Mayor Vyacheslav Shcherbakov told American and Soviet reporters here. “We are not planning any rationing now.”

Yet Shcherbakov acknowledged that bread consumption has suddenly jumped at least 30% in St. Petersburg, worsening the chronic shortages around the city, as frightened consumers seek to hoard as much as possible in response to reports that Ukrainian farmers are refusing to ship enough flour to the St. Petersburg area.

“I can’t exclude the possibility that people are hoarding, but we would not have a problem if they would not buy more than they need,” Shcherbakov said.

But that was hardly enough to calm the panicked crowds outside the city’s bread shops. Rumors of impending rationing and worsening shortages swept through the streets Saturday as shoppers pounded on the doors of stores that were closed four or five hours early because all the bread was gone.

“I haven’t been able to buy bread for three days,” complained Vanda Isofovna, as she stood outside the Gertsen Street State Bread Store in central St. Petersburg, which had a sign in the window saying that it was “closed due to technical reasons.”

“This is the first time that this has happened. I think it is because all the high people are getting the bread,” Isofovna complained.

“The people doing this should become known and put away,” added another angry shopper, Vasilisa Vasilgevna.

In some cases, stores remained open--with extremely long lines even by Soviet standards--despite the fact that their shelves were completely bare Saturday.

People stood waiting in empty stores, hoping to be there when the next shipment of bread arrived because “they are very afraid of the time when there will be no bread,” said Ludmilla Basova, a clerk at a bread store in St. Petersburg’s historic Theater Square District, where the bread was gone but the lines snaked down the block.

“I think they are going to start printing ration cards soon,” said Raisa Verontsova, as she stood in line outside the Theater Square shop. “People are here in line because they heard that rationing was coming.”

Many of the consumers buying extra bread--which Soviets have learned to save and store by drying it on apartment radiators--are older shoppers who remember the terrible famine that St. Petersburg endured during its 900-day siege by the Nazis during World War II.

Like many areas of the Soviet Union, the St. Petersburg region already has rationing in effect for some foods, including butter and meat. But the very thought of bread rationing is frightening to Soviet consumers.

Recognizing bread’s symbolic importance to Soviet consumers, the country’s new democratic leaders have continued the Communist practice of subsidizing bread prices so much that bread is effectively given away free by state stores. A loaf of bread still costs less than one-half of one Russian ruble, which translates into less than a penny. Bread prices are kept so low that Russian farmers often feed bread, rather than raw grain, to their pigs.

The bread panic hit here just as U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward R. Madigan visited St. Petersburg to discuss local food needs with city officials as part of a 10-day mission to the Soviet Union to determine how the Bush Administration can help the Soviets get through the winter.

Madigan said in an interview Saturday night that St. Petersburg municipal officials told him privately that they believe that the run on bread supplies has been caused by disruption in the country’s food distribution system. That disruption has resulted in a shortage of potatoes in the city. Consumers have purchased more bread as a substitute for potatoes in their diet, which in turn has caused bread shortages that may be sparking the panic.