Sergei and Maria, residents of the suburbs of Moscow, roll in a Chinese car, buy cheese produced in Russia and spend their vacations in Venezuela. For them, the sanctions adopted against Moscow in retaliation for their assault in Ukraine “are not a tragedy.”
Its modest two pieces in Mytichtchi, a city of 300,000 inhabitants in the northeast of the capital, where they live with their three children, two cats and a dog, was recently restored. His Chinese refrigerator is full of Russian products.
The first Western economic sanctions against Russia were imposed in 2014, after the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine by Moscow.
They harden largely after the launch of the Russian offensive against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which made at least tens of thousands of deaths.
For the Russians, they led to the disappearance of many Western products and made more expensive and complicated trips to the European Union and other countries that support kyiv.
“It’s not a tragedy”
But part of the population says it accommodates it.
Maria Tiabout, 43, an employee of a cosmetic company, is very interested in politics and does not remember when these restrictions began: “Maybe during the Covir?”
Two years ago, after a car accident, he said he had waited “for three months” the spare parts to repair his Kia, due to the sanctions.
The common income of Sergei and María amounts to about 300,000 rubles (almost 3,300 euros), above the national average. However, to buy a new car, they had to take a loan.
Russian Camembert
This channel resumed under its brand, since 2022, hundreds of restaurants from the American McDonald’s who, like many Western companies, had left Russia following the Russian attack in Ukraine.
“From the point of view of my daily life, my family, my work or my hobbies, I don’t feel the sanctions,” says Maria.
Some products have disappeared, including drugs, he acknowledges, but she says she hopes that the Russian industry will now produce them. For essential attention, there are already “Russian analogues.”
A typical example, Maria admits to having a weakness by Camembert … produced in Russia.
It also puts its basket yogurts of a new brand that replaced that of the French Danone, whose local production subsidiary was seized by the Russian state in 2023 and then sold to a nephew of the Cheheno leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Goodbye Europe
And despite the sanctions, certain popular western goods are imported through third countries. A route that has repercussions directly on sales prices.
At the same time, Russia retains commercial relations with countries such as Bélarus or the states of the Caucasus, which provide it in fruits, vegetables and dairy products.
Similarly for tourist trips.
Europe, previously for Russian tourists, has become little accessible due to the disappearance of direct flights and difficulties in obtaining visas.
Then Maria and Sergei opt for tourism in Russia and trips to Latin America. They went to Venezuela, a state under US sanctions, which describe as countries “with a very cordial people, where we love the Russians.”
Listening to them, inflation of almost 10% in Russia, fed by an immense military spending and the consequences of sanctions, do not worry them, because the State forced employers to index wages.
Source: BFM TV
