Residents in Russia are reportedly purchasing stacks of cereals, tinned meat and boxes of matches in anticipation of the pending apocalypse, according to a report.

In a widely reported as well as derided, prediction, it has been claimed across the globe that the world will end on December 21 when the Mayan "long count" calendar comes to an end.

The head of a chain of hardware stores in Chita, Siberia, said that demand had trebled the prices of candles, The Telegraph reports.

According to the paper, some shopkeepers have taken a tongue-in-cheek approach, flogging "Meet the End of the World" kits which include a tot of vodka, a bar of soap, and a piece of rope.

But others appear to be awaiting a genuine cataclysm.

In Barnaul, close to the Altai Mountains, panic-buyers snapped up all the torches and Thermos flasks, while locals in Omutninsk in Kirov region rushed to buy kerosene and other supplies after an article supposedly written by a Tibetan monk appeared in the local paper confirming the prediction of a December 21 catastrophe, the paper said.