Robert Ginzburg is the pseudonym of a British expat in southern Russia
We’re finishing the year by republishing our ten most popular articles from 2022. Here’s number ten: Robert Ginzburg’s piece from March on how Russia has changed since invading Ukraine. In Russia, the lights are going out one by one. Everything one expects from an up-to-date country – cashpoints that work, Apple products, Coca Cola –
Anyone wanting an insight into the strange atmosphere springing up almost overnight in Russia’s institutions could do a lot worse than consider campaigns held in Russian schools and kindergartens over the past week. There have been numerous photographs published online of infants waving Russian flags and arranging themselves in Z-formation, ‘Z’ being the current war-symbol
In Russia, the lights are going out one by one. Everything one expects from an up-to-date country – cashpoints that work, Apple products, Coca Cola – is vanishing. On Saturday night, at 3am, I ran down totally empty streets searching for the last cashpoint that would work with my British Mastercard. Bank machine after bank
One of the most difficult things about being in Russia at the moment is seeing people with whom you never had a problem – even liked – jumping on the war-bandwagon. A secretary at work where I lived in a city in the south of the country – we’ll call her Svetlana, she was probably my
