Mr Lukashenko poked fun at his ally about the lack of eggs in Russia (Picture: PA)
Vladimir Putin has been mocked by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko over Russia’s shortage of eggs.
Mr Putin’s ally confronted him over the skyrocketing prices of the kitchen staple, with the entire exchange caught on camera at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session in St Petersburg.
At the event Mr Putin, 71, was also spotted bizarrely stretching his feet as he waited to greet several fellow ex-Soviet republic leaders, including Mr Lukashenko, 69.
Former farm boss Mr Lukashenko teased the Russian leader that Belarus’s agricultural industry was in better shape than Russia’s.
He said: ‘We have achieved a high level of food self-sufficiency, which in Belarus is almost 100%.
‘We cover our domestic needs in grain, pork, meat, poultry, milk, vegetables, vegetable oils – and eggs.’
Mr Lukashenko did not hold back with his criticisms of Mr Putin (Picture: Kremlin)
Mr Putin seemed to find humour in the jab (Picture: Kremlin)
Mr Putin smiled and joked: ‘Give us a little, don’t be greedy.’
Egg prices have soared more than 40% in Russia amid shortages linked to rising poultry food prices caused by the war in Ukraine – and even memes have appeared with people saying they need to be wealthy to afford eggs.
Soviet-style queues have formed and the the price for ten eggs has soared to £1.90, an astronomical amount for many Russians – especially pensioners.
This compares with an average pension of £38.49 a week.
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Moscow has scrambled to urgently import eggs from other countries including Belarus, Kazakhstan and Turkey.
The egg crisis is seen as harming the chances of a man tipped to one-day succeed Mr Putin as Russian president – agriculture minister Dmitry Patrushev.
It shows a deepening cost of living nightmare biting for Russians as they go into the cold winter with Mr Putin starting his campaign for another six years in the Kremlin.
Mr Patrushev has pleaded with Mr Putin for more time to fix the problem.
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