Independent: Life for Russians hardly changed in a year of Western sanctions
Despite the extensive Western sanctions, Russia’s economy is feeling much better than expected while the lives of ordinary Russians have barely changed, an Independent journalist has concluded.
“There is no mass unemployment, no currency collapse, no queues in front of bankrupt banks. The range in supermarkets has changed little, international brands are still available, or are being replaced by their local equivalents,” the paper writes.
The author of the material interviewed several Russians who said they did not feel any noticeable changes, noting that Russia has faced worse times.
“In economic terms, nothing has changed. I work as I used to, I go shopping as I used to. Well, maybe prices have risen a little, but not so much that it is very noticeable,” Vladimir, 53, told the publication.
The thirty-three-year-old Dmitry said it was necessary to develop the country’s own production and not to depend on imports.
“We have had worse periods in our history and we have coped,” he added.
Some foreign companies such as McDonald’s and Starbucks have been taken over by local owners, Apple has stopped selling products in Russia, but the country’s largest online retailer offers the iPhone 14 “at about the same price as in Europe”, the article said.
As the Independent notes, furniture and home goods left by Sweden’s IKEA, which withdrew from Russia, are sold out on Yandex, labels on cans of Budweiser and Leffe beer sold in Moscow indicate that they were brewed by ABInBev, a local partner of the departed company, are also available, as well as Coca-Cola, made in Poland.
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