ORF: The EU has imposed a number of sanctions on Russia. For example, the Russian economy was left behind by international payment transactions, there is an oil embargo, etc. What are the effects of these sanctions in Moscow at the moment?
Schneider: Well, in people’s everyday lives you haven’t noticed much so far. Of course, the fact that Western credit cards can no longer be used in Russia, that Russian credit cards are no longer accepted in the West has had an impact. Many Western companies have left Russia, such as Ikea or McDonald’s. But these are things that have not actually led to you feeling anything in everyday life.
ORF: Does that mean that nothing has really changed in everyday life? Are all products available? Are all groceries available? And are the prices still reasonable despite the war?
Schneider: Prices have risen dramatically since spring. The ruble has been plummeting for a while. You can already feel it in everyday life. But it’s not something that would massively restrict people now. I think that will happen in the next few months, as I said, when layoffs, perhaps mass layoffs, really do take place. There are now also economists who say that the Russian economy will collapse more severely in the second half of the year. In the first half of the year things really turned out much better for the Russian economy than the West had thought. Also as one thought in Russia itself. Apparently, these sanctions really are a time bomb that will not hit immediately, but only very slowly.
ORF: At the beginning of the war, you could still see pictures, also on our television, on the ORF, of people in Russia who took to the streets against the war and were beaten and arrested. Are there still such protests against this war?
Schneider: They almost don’t exist anymore. There are still a few. This is called a single vigil. Officially, according to Russian law, the only form of protest permitted is that you simply stand there all by yourself and hold up a poster, for example, or a piece of paper. But they too are immediately taken away and arrested. Many are just afraid. Also that if they publicly criticize the government in the supermarket or on the bus or in the subway, that they will then betray you, so to speak, that you will then also be arrested. But that doesn’t mean that the whole people is now against Putin. The vast majority seems to be content with that. Some of them have the feeling that they can’t change that anyway. There are also some supporters who believe the Russian propaganda that is broadcast here on television. One mustn’t forget that all the independents, there weren’t many left anyway, but all the independent media are now closed, banned, expelled from the country, arrested.
ORF: What role does the war currently play in the pro-Russian media? Are they still being vigorously advertised, are they still looking, as was the case at the beginning, for soldiers who are needed for this “action”?
Schneider: Of course, there are constant reports, but it is reported from this propaganda point of view that Russia is standing up for a just cause in Ukraine, that the whole thing is not at all a conflict with Ukraine, but with the West. Of course, soldiers are still advertised. Some of the Russian cities have stands like this, like election campaign stands, where Russian men are invited to sign lucrative contracts, including reservists, in exchange for drawing the Russian army to the Ukraine. And it’s even advertised in Russian prisons. Prisoners are promised pardon if they go to Ukraine to fight. And all of this shows, of course, how great the need is. However, President Putin does not seem to have the courage to announce a general mobilization at the moment, i.e. to call all Russian men of military age to the front, so to speak, by law. He probably feels that that would be incredibly unpopular.
Everyday life in Moscow has hardly changed due to the war
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Everyday life in Moscow has hardly changed due to the war
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Everyday life in Moscow has hardly changed due to the war
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