Buckwheat Hoarding Returns to Moscow as Crisis Spurs Panic

In a telltale sign that the ruble crisis is causing panic among Russians, the talk in a downtown Moscow nail salon this week was about stockpiling buckwheat.

“Every morning I wake up and look at the exchange rate,” Irina Volkova, an office worker at a construction company, said as she had her nails worked on. “What if it’s a default? What if we have to prepare for the default? Maybe it’s time to buy buckwheat.”