Sabina, 23, a young Russian, takes a selfie in Moscow. REUTERS/Maxim Shemeto
MOSCOW – On a warm July day in the capital Russia a young couple walks hand-in-hand along the Moskva river as tour boats glide lazily downstream, the Kremlin towers peeking out from behind the treetops.
During the beautiful summer months in Moscow, Reuters interviewed four young Russians living there to find out how their lives have changed since the start of what the Kremlin called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
All four were born around the turn of the millennium, when President Vladimir Putin rose to power, and knew no Russia other than the Russia he ruled.
Some talk about study and work plans turned upside down, others, about the fear of the unknown and unpredictable future. But none of the four says they can do much to influence Russia’s direction.
Instead, as one young man put it, there was nothing left to do but adjust to the new reality and “move on”.
Sabina, 23, born in Moscow to Abkhaz descent, studied data journalism at the Moscow Higher School of Economics.
Before 2022, Sabina thought that she could go somewhere to study, enrolled in a university abroad. “I wanted to enroll in a university in Finland but kept putting it off, even though I really wanted to. Now it looks like I’m not going anywhere,” says Sabina.
“Not without my family, at least. Because, okay, I might leave, but who knows what happens next. Something might happen to them if they don’t leave the country with me. It seems we are making a choice now: which side of the border we are on stay. You are on one side or the other. And that is the last resort,” said Sabina.
2023-07-27 16:18:57
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