Clarissa’s Blog has been indispensable in providing context, updates, and analysis. Today she writes,

The Russian authorities have forbidden the entry of Ukrainian meat, milk, eggs, chicken, baby food, frozen foods, etc. into the Crimea. This is done in order to allow Russian companies to sell their products at exorbitant prices to the desperate Crimeans. This is the only way Putin has to repay his faithful “capitalists” for the loss of profits they have experienced as a result of American sanctions.

To silence the voices of the Crimeans who are unhappy about being used in this way, the Russian government has issued a statement that the Crimeans are all drug addicts, anyways. [Putin has banned methadone in the Crimea, claiming it ends up in the criminal market. – Ed] I guess the point is to persuade everybody that these empty shelves are a product of drug-induced hallucinations on the part of the people of the Crimea.