Yes, this could be hyperbole or my memory misleading me. I'm not Russian and it's hard to find good resources on this topic from the time. I found the followin

Yes, this could be hyperbole or my memory misleading me. I'm not Russian and it's hard to find good resources on this topic from the time. I found the following article from the Associated Press. It looks like Gorbachev said that Soviet Union didn't expect famine, but would face food shortages. It's still sad that the humanitarian aid didn't come, leading to Gorbachev's resignation. https://apnews.com/article/a9a10bdf38d213033157d6d98c29e2c1 https://apnews.com/article/a9a10bdf38d213033157d6d98c29e2c1 > In a letter last month to Jacques Delors, the EC commission president, the Soviets asked for millions of tons of food that it valued at $7.5 billion. The rest of the $14.7 billion in aid was requested from other Western nations. The Kremlin’s request included 5.5 million tons of grain, 900,000 tons of sugar, 800,000 tons of meat, 350,000 tons of butter, 300,000 tons of vegetable fat, 300,000 tons of flour, 50,000 tons of tobacco, 50,000 tons of baby food and 30,000 tons of malt.