Russian famine of 1891–1892

When the Volga River flooded, the lack of fire caused the water to freeze, which killed more seedlings and the fodder used to feed the horses.

[citation needed] They rarely had modern fertilizers or machinery (the Petrovsky Academy, in Moscow, was Russia's only agricultural school).

[citation needed] The government also contributed to the famine indirectly by conscripting peasant sons and sending taxmen to seize livestock when grain ran out.

The government also implemented a system of redemption payments as compensation to landlords who had lost their serfs, who, across Russia, had gained their freedom as part of reforms a few years earlier that were instigated by Tsar Alexander.

[5] Alexander III's sister-in-law Grand Duchess Elizabeth also raised money by selling peasant crafts in bazaars.

Starving peasants had to eat raw donated flour and "famine bread", a mixture of moss, goosefoot, bark and husks.

From late February to mid-July, the relief ships sailed to Russia averaging around 2,000 tons of food on board, mostly wheat and corn flour and grain.

the US government (through the Department of the Interior)[specify] provided financial assistance to certain Russian regions (guberniyas), mainly in the form of loans, in the amount of US$75 million (equivalent to $2.3 billion in 2023).