Dropped Moscow

From the MT:
"Moscow Ranking for Expat Living Costs Falls 65 Places in Three Years"

Moscow has dropped 17 spots in this year’s rankings of the world’s most expensive cities for foreigners, a report by the Mercer Human Resource consulting group said Wednesday, falling to 67th on the firm’s list.  The change in rank has been driven largely by the ruble’s dramatic fall in value against the U.S. dollar. Since 2013, when Moscow was ranked the world’s second most expensive city for expats, living costs in the Russian capital have fallen steadily.  St. Petersburg, another popular city for expats in Russia, has seen an even more dramatic decline since 2013, when it was ranked 23rd. On this year’s ranking, the city took 152nd place.  Hong Kong took first place in the survey, followed by Angolan capital Luanda. In Europe, London fell five places to 17th, while the majority of other European capitals remained steady. Many U.S. cities rose in the rankings due to the dollar’s increasing strength against other currencies, with New York rising five spots to claim 11th place, the report found.

^ I remember going from Yaroslavl (where I could "live like a king") and going to Moscow where the same amount of money wouldn't get me much of anything. Moscow is like an Old West town in the US where you can do anything you want (legally or not) and that comes at a price. It's nice to see that now the cost of living for expats in Moscow has gone down, but it did so because of the international sanctions and the self-imposed bans when Russia annexed the Crimea. It would have been great if the price of living in Moscow fell for different reasons. ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/moscow-ranking-for-expat-living-costs-falls-65-places-in-three-years/573201.html