A Really Hard Sell: ‘Buy Russian’

President Boris N. Yeltsin has a dream: One day stores here will be filled with Russian goods, and Russians will want to buy them.

After decades of empty Soviet shops, the markets of Moscow are overflowing with a huge variety of goods, from pasta and jogging shoes to compact discs and cellular phones. But to the president’s dismay, the vast majority of consumer goods sold in Russia come from abroad.

In a national radio address this week, Yeltsin appealed to the patriotism of Russian shoppers, urging them to boost domestic industry and “buy Russian.”

“Is Russian chocolate worse than imported chocolate?” Yeltsin asked. “No, it’s better. And what about bread, sausages, dairy products, beer, not to speak of vodka?”

His appeal, however, was about as well-received as the Rubin television--the Soviet brand infamous for exploding when turned on.

Shoppers in Moscow stores were unenthusiastic about proving their love for their motherland by ignoring foreign goods and paying higher prices for lower-quality Russian products.

“I am a patriot all right, but his speech today won’t make me buy Russian chocolate just because it is Russian-made,” said nurse Tatyana Malygina, 38, as she looked at rows of imported goods at the huge Dinamo Stadium food market. “It is too expensive, and its wrapping looks cheap. If I want to give someone a small present, I would rather buy a box of foreign candy because it looks much more dashing and is cheaper.”

Andrei Polovinko, 27, a businessman, agreed: “Sausage and vodka are not fair measurements of your patriotism. I stay in Russia and do my business in Russia in terrible conditions, and that’s what makes me a patriot, not stuffing my guts with a Russian chicken born in 1812.”

Even the president’s family members were slow to get behind the “buy Russian” slogan.

Hours after Yeltsin’s address, presidential son-in-law Valery Okulov, acting chief of Aeroflot airlines, announced that the company will buy 10 Boeing 737-400 jets to replace some of its aging Russian-made planes.

During the Soviet era, Communist leaders put little emphasis on manufacturing consumer goods, devoting the nation’s resources instead to space exploration and the military. Russians had rubles to spend, but there was nothing in the shops to buy.

Yeltsin, 66, reminisced about how, decades ago, he stood in line for hours to buy his first gift for his wife, Naina--a pair of white shoes that were the envy of her friends.

Today, the biggest queues in Moscow are at the city’s numerous McDonald’s restaurants.

“We have gotten used to the abundance of imported goods, and we take it for granted,” Yeltsin said. “It is hard to imagine that some five or six years ago everything was different.”

Officials estimate that 80% of the consumer products sold in Russia are imported, coming from at least 160 countries.

Yeltsin cited one Russian product desired by buyers in other countries: its weapons.

Earlier this year, he ordered all government officials to replace their foreign cars with Russian-made vehicles.

The “buy Russian” campaign was greeted by humor on many fronts. One newspaper published a front-page cartoon highlighting Yeltsin’s appeal to Russians to buy domestic vodka.

In the cartoon, two drunk Russians are holding up a third, who has passed out. A police officer has stopped them, and one of the drunks is explaining: “We are trying to support not only a Russian producer, but a Russian consumer too.”

Sergei Loiko of The Times’ Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.