Life in Russia

[Hughe]

Hi all,

I went to Russia with my Russian wife and spent one month to see actual life in Russia before I immigrate. A good friend of mine in Avalon asked to share the photos with other members.

Train ticket is around 90 rubles from the small city to Nizhny Novgorod.

[Hughe]

The Volga river

[Hughe]

The Volga river

[Hughe]

The bus fee is 30 rubles


Domestic and imported rices

[TealHorizon]

I would love to see more pictures if you head back. Such a shame due to politics people miss out on the deep, rich history of the country, as well variety of wildlife and biomes. Visiting Volgograd has been a bit of a bucket list item for me due to the WWII historical aspect.

[Ewan]

Thanks so much for sharing, looking forward to reading more about actual life there.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Ewan (here)
Thanks so much for sharing, looking forward to reading more about actual life there.

Yes!

What are Russians' attitudes to/ feelings about

• Putin's management of how Russia is perceived in the 'global south'?
• Europe?
• The USA?
• Propagandized Russophobia? (Do the Russians care?)
• The Ukraine conflict? (Do they think Putin is being too cautious and moderate?)
• The Russian economy right now? (Does it feel healthy and prosperous? Are there any shortages of anything?)
• What we might call 'alternative media', and what's presented there?
• The Sputnik covid vaccine? (Are there reports of heart injuries and accelerating cancers, as we see in the west? Are there Russian doctors and physicians who criticize the vaxx without getting censored?)

I can easily think of a dozen more, but that might be a very interesting start.

[shaberon]

Excellent. I wonder whose rice they are using?


For the "one that got away" I would have to say that the most amazing conversation I ever had with a random woman that I probably should have thrown myself at her feet in perpetual slavery was Russian. Never quite had the urge to do that again.

The Byzantine iconography is amazing and for those who may not be familiar with Orthodoxy there are no pews. You stand for three hours. Such is the Church of Jerusalem.

Recently I have seen multiple stories from farmers and religious people moving there, and they all say pretty much the same thing.

I personally remember the end of the Berlin Wall and the opening of Russian borders, and that, so to speak, was probably the grand historical moment of all times compared to the normal bad news. And so what is happening now with all this isolation garbage is infuriating. We went through all that time to mend the differences or whatever, and almost as soon as the champagne is poured, those scalliwags keep pressing into Brzenski Chessboard doctrine and just ruin everything.

People like me or Mr. Putin do not change our minds easily, but he said...I used to think they did it out of arrogance mixed with a sense of impunity. Now I think they're crazy.


Sorry about that. Everything about normalizing relations would be for the win.

[Isserley]

The buildings from the time of communism and the train station remind me of Zagreb / ​​Croatia... and even the church, although Orthodox, reminds me of our Balkan ones. Overall - the Slavic spirit is present and clearly felt..

[Hughe]

My Russian language is pretty limited, probably two year old kid. My wife and I communicate with English all the time. When she can't understand my American expression, we use Russian/English translator. I didn't have any chance to talk with politics and economy, also current Russia-Ukraine war with locals. My wife would not create such conversation with her friends or people in front me.

One strange occasion was that a middle age Russian man came to us and he talked about Korean workers in a chicken factory. One week after my wife's connection and talking with locals, she told me that North Korean workers have been working for a chicken factory. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and North Korea has an labor agreement. Some Russian companies hire North Korean workers to run their business, send wages to North Korean government. The North Korean workers live in isolated environment under surveillance of officers from North Korea. When their term is expired, the workers are sent back to North Korea.

What are Russians' attitudes to/ feelings about
> Putin's management of how Russia is perceived in the 'global south'?
> Europe?
> The USA?
> Propagandized Russophobia? (Do the Russians care?)
It seems most educated, professional Russians who have access to Internet started to support Putin's government since the war. They know that if Russia would loose the Russia-Ukraine war, the Collective West under the United Sates will destroy Russia and its people forever. Exploitation of vast amount of natural resources in Russia, and human resources! So many critics against Putin's long-term control of Russia lower their voices for now.

> The Ukraine conflict? (Do they think Putin is being too cautious and moderate?)
Russian people don't care about the Ukraine conflict much. Because they know Ukraine is doing proxy war for the Collective West.

> The Russian economy right now? (Does it feel healthy and prosperous? Are there any shortages of anything?)
I was impressed and shocked from time to time when I found the cheap price of food or housing cost. Compared to South Korea, living expense is about four to ten times cheaper in Russia. It's possible to buy a small apartment or a house after saving three to four years. In Korea buying a small apartment is near impossible unless the family income is over $200,000 per year with mortgage. Many Russians do have freedom of choice of living based on their income level. If one makes decent money, he/she can drive luxury car from Germany or Japan. If one makes average money, he/she can drive an old car, twenty or thirty years old. If one can't afford a car, he/she uses public transportation - bus, train, taxi. This applies to houses too.
Airplane fee from Nizhny Novogord to Moscow is 8,000 rubles to 4,000 rubles.
Health insurance premium I paid for one year was 1,000 rubles! In Korea, my family (two members) pays about 24,000 rubles monthly.
Sick elders over about 65 have free health care service from hospitals.

> Excellent. I wonder whose rice they are using?
Countries from Southern Asia, India, and Russian region.

> What we might call 'alternative media', and what's presented there?
Definitely

> The Sputnik covid vaccine? (Are there reports of heart injuries and accelerating cancers, as we see in the west? Are there Russian doctors and physicians who criticize the vaxx without getting censored?)
Russian government did not press mandatory vaccination to the people. The Sputnik vaccine is not mRNA type.

[Denise/Dizi]

Thank You for sharing the images of your new life Hughe... What a crazy transition in one's life, a huge change! I am so happy that you have found happiness.... and Russia doesn't loo much different than any other built up country on this planet.... Invisible boundaries, beliefs and borders, truly are the only thing that divides the population on this planet.

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MatreshkaRF/status/1733899347970990570

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/jaccocharite/status/1733965691177304297

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MatreshkaRF/status/1736457129366556714

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/MatreshkaRF/status/1736456533637038219

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/MaimunkaNews/status/1736430985632166054

¤=[Post Update]=¤

https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1736043702915641628

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/jaccocharite/status/1736146405641593157

[Bill Ryan]

A Russian girl in Yatutsk, where the temperature was -47ºC, or -53ºF.

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MaimunkaNews/status/1736303763713892738

[I am B]

I've spent 15 days in Bashkiria (I'm still here in fact, going back tomorrow!) Visiting my gf's family and hanging around a bit. Last time I was here was 2 years ago.

These are my personal general observations and stuff I got from close people here:

- Moscow (spent 2 days there) is preety preety empty regarding people. I know many emigrated with their company or to avoid clnscription, and others had to move out of the city because their jobs were related with the west and they stopped making money.

- There are security detectors and bag scans on every station and comercial centres. Tons of security. Super super annoying.

- I definetly saw an increase of military personel movin around be it walking on the streets, public transport, airports... Could be a seasonal thing, but it did catch my attention, since there were a LOT.

- Visa and Mastercard don't work, and overall they got blocked financially, specially small people. Still they created plenty of banking projects with their own cards and conditions that seem to work really good and with plenty of choice apparently.

- Food Is way cheaper as mentioned before (I'm bringing back a suitcase of caviar). But also salaries are way lower, specially once out of Moscow. A ticket controlling person on a trolleybus here, makes (as said on the ad) 20.000Roubles a month, which I presume to be a salary not above the average, but still.

- Having said this, food quality is AHEAD. And ahead of Spain/france even. Proximity products are valued and sold on even big centres. The only thing lacking a bit is fruit for natural reasons.

- What Is indeed cheaper is energy. (I guess otherwise they'd freeze to death) but Its still impressive. Gas is cheap, and heating is almost free.

- Hardware stuff is the most cheaply priced and good quality. A car battery is 2000Roubles (~20€) and theyre the ones with higher electron charge to resist the cold better. Cooling antifreeze liquid of -40 is 3€. In spain you won't find it for less than 15.

- Most stuff in commercial centres Is cheap chinese made stuff (clothes, etc) pretending in many cases to be brands. Russian people seem to fall for it, although good ol soviet/army stuff is also well valued. (There are two kinds of people, the ones that wear cheap chinese coats, or the ones that wear original multicam winter gorka 3)

- Public transport is reliable, although the machines are old and crunky, theyre soviet made and reliable. 30 roubles and 16 for oldies.

- Casual culture, like concerts etc, is well made. (Assisted to some small local ballet) But there isn't too much of it.

- Unfortunately grandma spent a few days in the hospital. We went to visit. She went to a paid room 10€/day, otherwise she'd be with 5/6 more people. Still, despite having heart problems, there was nothing in the room but a bed, a fridge and some oxygen line. Not monitoring devices, etc. When we went to pay the extra for the room, the obliged us to pay in cash, and the family suspects theres a bit of a tricky trick with the nurses there, but whatever. (Shes okay, coming back as I write this)

- Local national history is praised, both becoming a tourist attraction and a heritage preservation thing.

- There are many children, and they're all local.

- Muslims here are so much different (this is actually a muslim region) There is less imposing muslim stuff here than in Spain. Just people living their lives and their traditions respecting eachother.

- Nobody that I know around here took the jab, elders included.


I haven't talked too much about putin. People seem to respect him and are interested on what he says. But there is this nip of fear in the air. TV is overwhelming with propaganda, plenty of it around what Biden says and how he pulls his Boggers off with each finger.

People seem (I got asked for this twice) to wonder, in an afraid manner, how are they percieved in the west, and If they personally have been demonised by this whole thing in Ukraine.

Idk what else came up. I'll post some more If it comes to mind. Feel free to ask too, I'm still in the country.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by I am B (here)
I've spent 15 days in Bashkiria (I'm still here in fact, going back tomorrow!) Visiting my gf's family and hanging around a bit. Last time I was here was 2 years ago.

These are my personal general observations and stuff I got from close people here:

- Moscow (spent 2 days there) is preety preety empty regarding people. I know many emigrated with their company or to avoid clnscription, and others had to move out of the city because their jobs were related with the west and they stopped making money.

- There are security detectors and bag scans on every station and comercial centres. Tons of security. Super super annoying.

- I definetly saw an increase of military personel movin around be it walking on the streets, public transport, airports... Could be a seasonal thing, but it did catch my attention, since there were a LOT.

- Visa and Mastercard don't work, and overall they got blocked financially, specially small people. Still they created plenty of banking projects with their own cards and conditions that seem to work really good and with plenty of choice apparently.

- Food Is way cheaper as mentioned before (I'm bringing back a suitcase of caviar). But also salaries are way lower, specially once out of Moscow. A ticket controlling person on a trolleybus here, makes (as said on the ad) 20.000Roubles a month, which I presume to be a salary not above the average, but still.

- Having said this, food quality is AHEAD. And ahead of Spain/france even. Proximity products are valued and sold on even big centres. The only thing lacking a bit is fruit for natural reasons.

- What Is indeed cheaper is energy. (I guess otherwise they'd freeze to death) but Its still impressive. Gas is cheap, and heating is almost free.

- Hardware stuff is the most cheaply priced and good quality. A car battery is 2000Roubles (~20€) and theyre the ones with higher electron charge to resist the cold better. Cooling antifreeze liquid of -40 is 3€. In spain you won't find it for less than 15.

- Most stuff in commercial centres Is cheap chinese made stuff (clothes, etc) pretending in many cases to be brands. Russian people seem to fall for it, although good ol soviet/army stuff is also well valued. (There are two kinds of people, the ones that wear cheap chinese coats, or the ones that wear original multicam winter gorka 3)

- Public transport is reliable, although the machines are old and crunky, theyre soviet made and reliable. 30 roubles and 16 for oldies.

- Casual culture, like concerts etc, is well made. (Assisted to some small local ballet) But there isn't too much of it.

- Unfortunately grandma spent a few days in the hospital. We went to visit. She went to a paid room 10€/day, otherwise she'd be with 5/6 more people. Still, despite having heart problems, there was nothing in the room but a bed, a fridge and some oxygen line. Not monitoring devices, etc. When we went to pay the extra for the room, the obliged us to pay in cash, and the family suspects theres a bit of a tricky trick with the nurses there, but whatever. (Shes okay, coming back as I write this)

- Local national history is praised, both becoming a tourist attraction and a heritage preservation thing.

- There are many children, and they're all local.

- Muslims here are so much different (this is actually a muslim region) There is less imposing muslim stuff here than in Spain. Just people living their lives and their traditions respecting eachother.

- Nobody that I know around here took the jab, elders included.

I haven't talked too much about putin. People seem to respect him and are interested on what he says. But there is this nip of fear in the air. TV is overwhelming with propaganda, plenty of it around what Biden says and how he pulls his Boggers off with each finger.

People seem (I got asked for this twice) to wonder, in an afraid manner, how are they percieved in the west, and If they personally have been demonised by this whole thing in Ukraine.

Idk what else came up. I'll post some more If it comes to mind. Feel free to ask too, I'm still in the country.

~~~

Many thanks, and all very interesting! Also interesting is that this departs in some ways quite considerably from what Larry Johnson and Alastair Crooke shared when specifically asked about their recent visit to Moscow by their interviewers — how many people there were in the streets and the malls, how relaxed it all was, how confident everyone was, how there was no unusual military or police presence, etc.

Here's Larry Johnson talking to Ania K just a few days ago. He goes into quite some detail about his impressions right at the start of the video.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tTyAFIUE7Dc

[I am B]

Maybe it depends on the person (?) Some checkups seem to be arbitrary, or at least with some specific guidelines. But every metro and every mall door (sometimes stuff that its just a building with shops) has guards, many armed, and bag scanners. (Even the airport has several even before the boarding security checkup. Unavoidable ones) I went around speaking mostly in english, and with a bit of a military backpack with my stuff. Also in general I stick out a bit smh. Still, never before I got my pack scanned so much. Plenty of XRays, some gunlike scanning devices (radiation sniffers??), and everywhere you looked you could see security people. At least in Moscow downtown (Red square, gorky park, etc.) The airport, and the bunkerlike metro they have. I guess its the place they fear something major to happen.

Regarding military presence it wasn't security focused mostly, although many were forming, they seemed to be on the move with uniform on, many with the typical military pack (petate in spanish). Maybe it could be mandatory service related.

Out of moscow, in bachkiria, i've barely seen a couple of police cars in the two weeks here.

Also there are a ton of recruiting ads around, hanged papers and bus stickers. Interesting some actually, asking to be the "man of the family" etc. (They'd be so cancelled in the west... xD)