@ The Yuri
2024-12-21 12:38:04
When I read the Western media and opinions of accounts affected by it, I can't but get amused at the absolute stupidity of it all. Many people in the West truly belive that life in Russia is hell, grocery store shelves are empty, streets are filled only with women and children because there are no more men, tanks patrol city areas, etc.
So let me give a quick personal account of how it is. I won't waste time including links to sources — use your own Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo or whatever works for your research purposes. Here we go, in no particular order.
## A police state
Any state is a police state because there is police. Russia is no better and no worse than any other country. There's regular police, road police, internal military (the national guard). They do their job and nothing more. I mostly lived in a smaller town in which being stopped by a police officer in the middle of a street for some random check is a thing that I've never seen in my life. It happened to me in Moscow once, when I was a student nearly 20 years ago: they wanted to check my residential address registration (in Russia, you have to be registered where you reside). Today, due to the situation, it may happen a bit more often in larger cities, but there's nothing that resembles harrassment.
## Don't speak, or else
"There's no freedom of speech!" is total bulshit. I see so much Putin hate on Russian web resources that this statement just cancels itself automatically. But as soon as you start plotting against the country, overtly or covertly, then sure, you will attract a bit more attention from certain agencies whose job is to prevent such things. Especially now. Before you say "but muh opposition, other parties, other candidates!", I will cut you short with a simple axiom that applies to all my thinking: democracy is a scam and must be abandoned at all cost. This should eliminate most objections. Or rather make them *non sequitur*.
## People are starving
This is the most ridiculous claim, especially for me, as I've really tried hard not to get fat. There is an abundance of malls, department stores, supermarkets and smaller grocery stores — all filled with such a huge variety of stuff that even American tourists are dumbfounded. Thirty types of cola instead of 2-3 like in American supermarkets is what I'm talking about. And like this with everything else. Must I add that most products are a lot cheaper than abroad and more natural (GMOs are banned). So no, there is no shortage: foods, clothes, devices, etc are cheap and abundant.
## All men must die!
Nobody catches anybody on the streets to send to the trenches. Life is literally the same as before, business as usual. There was a short period at the beginning of the special operation when partial mobilizatoin of reserve assets was held in order to supply the army with enough specialists. But it ended quite quickly. And yes, everybody was worried a bit, but it passed. After that experience, I think the government figured out the incentives and found enough money to offer paid contracts, and a miracle happened: thousands of volunteers sign up to go to the war zone every single day. No need to mobilize.
## Russians are poor
I'm quite sure what "poor" means. See, I've traveled enough to see actual poverty. And I've never seen anything like that in Russia, even during the crazy 90's when I was just a kid. American, Canadian, Europeans streets filled with homeless junkies, Latin American slums and favelas — you will see nothing of the sort in Russia. Sure, there are some homeless people, especially in big cities, and some babushkas whose pensions aren't enough to live comfortably, but overall the level of life in the country has been on the rise. As a matter of fact, some people measure Putin's genius exactly by this ability to provide all kinds of material improvements while distancing people from politics — this made Russians unwilling to answer to revolutionary calls. "Fuck the revolution, I'll just have my caramel macchiato delivered by a Yandex boy within 10 minutes, then go chill in a movie theater, play Mafia with my friends and end this day at a night club party."
## Travel is banned, the country is a prison
As I write this, a relative just got his visa to Spain. I'm myself traveling now. More countries are opening up to Russians, cancelling visas or extending visa-free stays. Borders are open. Border security agents don't ask extra questions that they wouldn't normally ask. In short, don't belive this lie either.
## Is anything bad at all?
Oh yes. Russian bureaucracy. The one thing I hate the most. Want to do some papers? Nobody will explain properly how it's done: you will have to go through seven circles of bureaucratic hell to figure things out. I've heard stories of American faimilties trying to move to Russia only to absolutely lose their temper and abandon the idea. If you want your piece of paper or a certain stamp, you will just to fight for it and there will be little help from the government. But even this, I believe, is being dealt with as Russia is digitizing all of its sevices at a fast pace.
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There you are. I hope this quick overview of life in Russia has helped you see through the veil of silly Western propaganda. In no way I say that Russia is a perfect place to live and that there's no better place in the world. I don't suffer from fanaticism. But a better understanding of what's happening on the other side could help with your judgement. And that's all I want.