Two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, the war has become part of a new order for Russians —
an unpleasant yet familiar part of everyday life. Many people in Russia have learned to turn a blind eye to the war
(something unimaginable at the end of February 2022!). But even after moving into the “background mode” for some Russians,
the war continues to steadily transform the country. The more time passes since it began, the greater its impact on Russian
society becomes.
One part of society — the mobilized, the staunch supporters of the war, the pro-war intelligentsia — is increasingly, directly or
indirectly, drawn into the front line with all its horrors of death, injury, and psychological trauma. Another part of society,
living in the rear, continues to experience the social transformation that unfolds alongside the military actions. The new economic
policy, Russia’s isolation from the West, and the growing estrangement from those who have left the country — all these form the layers
of a new Russian reality. How do the normalization of war and the attempts to ignore it or look away, on the one hand, coexist with the
growing number of deaths in one’s close circle, the strikes on Russian territory, and the sanctions, on the other hand? How do Russians
cope with the deaths of their loved ones, compensated with hundreds of thousands of rubles? How do these processes reshape people’s
perceptions of the war and affect their everyday lives, especially outside the capitals that usually attract most of the media’s attention?
What does everyday life in wartime Russia look like today?
At the beginning of the war, the main question that preoccupied experts, politicians, and Russians themselves concerned the nature of support
for the war: who supports it, why, and what share of the population these people represent. Two years later, as more Russian citizens become
directly involved in the hostilities, lose loved ones, or come under shelling, and as society and the economy adapt to wartime reality, a new
question arises. It is the question of how Russians live in this new reality — one in which the war has become an inescapable part. Do they
feel its impact on their everyday lives? How do they adapt to it? What brings them joy, and what causes dissatisfaction?
In the autumn of 2023, members of our team went on ethnographic field trips to three Russian regions — Sverdlovsk Oblast, the Republic of
Buryatia, and Krasnodar Krai — and spent about a month in each. The researchers collected truly unique data that form the basis of this report:
75 in-depth interviews and, most importantly, three detailed ethnographic field diaries (around 110,000 words or 250 pages each). This report
is based on their fieldwork.
The report was originally written in Russian and translated into English by the Russia Program at The George Washington University.
It was first published here.
💾"We need to carry on:" Download report