A Journey Through Putin’s Russia

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily Russians go to the polls today in. the first presidential election since. their country invaded Ukraine 2 years. ago the war was expected to carry a. steep cost for Vladimir Putin but as my. colleague Valerie Hopkins explains the. opposite has happened happened today.

Valerie travels around Russia to. understand how Putin has done it and how. long that can. last it's Friday March. [Music]. 15th so Valerie the presidential. elections in Russia are starting today. and it's the first one since the. beginning of the invasion of Ukraine two. years ago and back then you know there.

was this idea that the war could. potentially become ruinous for Vladimir. Putin both politically and economically. and here we are with Putin running for. reelection two years later so we come to. you as our on the ground Russia expert. to talk about where we are in the ark of. President Putin's power well Saina these. elections are set to run Friday to. Sunday 29 regions are are voting online.

and some of them have already started. and it's a big event for Putin but you. and I both know very well that elections. aren't necessarily the best measure of. the People's Choice in Russia um Putin. is running once again without any real. genuine competition some of my friends. in Moscow actually just refer to it as. the voting the voting because it's not. really an election people are going to.

vote but it's not truly a choice exactly. so Putin is expected to just Glide to. another six-year term his Fifth and that. puts him on a path to becoming the. longest serving leader in Russia since. the Russian Revolution more than 100. years ago W. incredible and what's so remarkable is. that this isn't just a story about an. autocrat extending his Reign this is a. leader with pretty Skyhigh polling. numbers right now and seemingly Broad.

support so tell me about that what is. that support I mean Sabrina you and I. both know that opinion polls are to be. taken with a grain of salt in Russia. especially in a time when repression has. become very intense and is only getting. stronger by the month but you know polls. conducted by independent pulsers like. the levada center which use focus groups. and really big sample sizes show that. Putin's approval rating is at. 86% wow the highest in nearly a decade.

86% yeah and even the more general. question is Russia going in the right. direction that answer has really shocked. me it's 75% right now it's the highest. it's ever been since a pollster started. asking the question in 1996 that is. incredible I mean the highest number. since the beginning of polling basically. yes and you know for me that's really so. in congruous because remember you and I. were on the ground Ukraine when the war.

started and Russia began being deluged. with Western sanctions you know one. company after another announced they. were pulling out and then slowly it. became clear that this war was going to. last much longer and be far more deadly. than anyone originally expected I think. including Mr Putin himself and it seemed. like Russia's future was a massive. question mark So looking at the polls. now it's kind of remarkable to see that. Putin has managed to get past all of.

that and so I really wanted to get out. into the country and talk to some of the. people behind these numbers to. understand what it is that has kept. their support for Vladimir Putin so high. and how he's been able to defy the. expectations that so many people had at. the beginning of this war so where did. you start so a few months ago I decided. to go to the ninth largest city in. Russia Samara it's a city on the vulgar. River and I was interested in Samara.

because it's a pretty big industrial. city and I really wanted to see how. ordinary people living there were. feeling about the war and were. experiencing all these changes to. Russia's economic life I mean again this. was one of the big questions hanging. over the war would it crater the Russian. economy and it occurred to me that a. really good place to get a feel for that. is at the. mall so I went to one downtown with a.

couple of my colleagues and I was really. interested to go and see what ordinary. life is like for people who are doing. some shopping or catching a film Valerie. you are our Russian Mall expert also our. Russia expert but our Russian Mall. expert continue what did you see in this. one this mall was really. interesting you know I saw a lot of. activity one thing I have to say I. appreciate is that there a group of. young teenage boys who are playing with.

large size chess pieces very. Russian there's no empty storefronts. they've all been replaced by new brands. um from different countries in the world. some of them Russian some of them from. the Middle East the gulf Etc and let me. tell you Sabrina that's really different. from what I saw in malls even in Central. Moscow at the end of. 2022 many Russian especially young hip.

Urban Russians were devastated by the. departures of Zara H&M McDonald's. Coca-Cola and these were departures of. Western companies because of the. sanctions absolutely and you would go to. malls and it would just feel like a dead. zone stores shuttered dark hallways you. could see what was no longer available. to you as a Russian consumer and now all. that has. changed but I don't know there's also a. lot of news was like B free and GJ like.

I don't know what that is oh but that's. a Russian brand. right of course Zara and H&M have been. replaced by stores that we in the states. have never heard of but you could still. get a lot of the same Goods it seemed. like your average Mall teenagers walking. around drinking. [Music]. soda us F you oh.

one of the big questions I get from. friends back home is did you tried the. fake Coca-Cola doca the new brand that. has essentially taken over all of. Coca-Cola's business inside of Russia so. I've just bought a do Cola and for the. uninitiated doola means good Cola right. cool Cola I mean yeah I've seen various. translations good Cola cool Cola let's. see if there's any difference.

whatsoever I don't think so so what is. good Cola taste like pretty much like. the real thing maybe like a normal. knockoff Coke do you think there's any. difference um a little bit. really I don't know if Coca-Cola like. took their secret sauce when they left. or not but I don't mean to paint a. picture of a mall full of only knockoffs. you know I think frankly I was Aston. by the amount of Western Goods still.

available there was still Chanel all of. the luxury cosmetics and perfume are. widely available in Russia so really. what you're seeing is a mall that has. actually returned to some semblance of. economic normal yeah in the past two. years Russia has been able to really. successfully reorient its economy. consumers clearly still have the money. to buy expensive Western Products so.

they're often paying a huge premium. importing them from China from. Kazakhstan from Georgia Armenia and the. neighboring countries through middleman. oh let's talk to the m Apple people. they're selling all the Apple products. let's find out like how do they get them. are they more expensive. the this became really clear to me once. I set foot into a shop selling Apple. products so tell me about that shop so. it looked like an ordinary Apple store.

they had all the MacBooks and MacBook. Pros and accessories iPhones and in fact. when I first went in just to inquire. about the. price the salesman that I talked to was. really proud to say that it wasn't that. much more expensive than the west and. that actually they had gotten the latest. iPhone model in stock 3 days only after. it debuted in America interesting so. what did the guy say.

he kind of shrugged his shoulders about. the economy about the sanctions he said. you know we have no problems getting any. of this stuff in people are still able. to buy it and he told me that he. actually felt very confident that Russia. would be able to survive and maybe even. Thrive. economically he compared Russia to Iran.

which has been under sanctions for. decades not that it's the most. economically successful country in the. world his point was that other countries. have figured out how to survive economic. sanctions and Russia is as well. positioned as anyone to do that I mean. he mentioned how resourc rich Russia is. it's one of the world's biggest oil. producers and that has already helped it. to generate money to keep the economy.

float so this is one of the keys to. Putin's success right keep the people. happy with iPhones have the stuff still. come in make sure that they're not cut. off from the world in terms of the stuff. that they want exactly standing in this. fake Apple Store in the Samara Mall the. war felt really distant to this guy you. know he's injured so he couldn't be. mobilized although he does feel bad for.

some of his friends who are fighting but. he said the war is not really this. immediate presence in his life and that. his life really hasn't changed at all H. and when I thought about it more it. wasn't all that surprising to me I mean. here we were in a relatively big city. and I knew that Russia had been drafting. far more soldiers from rural areas. around the country than they are from. cities I started to think I needed to go. further a field to the more rural.

communities that are actually bearing. the brunt of this. war so my team and I hopped in a car and. we drove for hours along a poth hold. road all the way to a little village. called. [Music]. oatmeal we'll be right. back so Valerie tell me tell me about. the town of oatmeal and is it actually.

called oatmeal well yes I mean in. Russian it's of Sanka it was a. collective Farm back in the days of the. Soviet Union in some of the Open Fields. you can just see like the remains of. collapsed infrastructure but the village. of oena itself provides almost no jobs. mostly people are working in subsistence. agriculture or you know hunting for. scrap metal doing odd jobs here and.

there I mean the place is really. impoverished every year it seems like. there's another suicide which in a. really small place takes its toll it. feels like a place with a lot of Despair. so really kind of a classic posts Soviet. you know economically depressed. landscape a place that had been this. large functioning farm this Collective. farm with the whole village employed in. working it. and after the Soviet collapse that just.

died right I mean this is a place that. really hasn't seen any of the fruits of. Putin's economic success. story and these small depressed Villages. are the kind of places that have sent a. lot of people to this. war so I arrived in oatmeal and went. straight to the house of the kadira. family who had lost their son in the. war.

and I was really interested in how the. family would make sense of their loss. and of the war and what they thought of. Russia in that moment and what they. thought of Putin who launched this. war and as we arrived the family were. waiting for his body to be brought by by. the local military. officials and as we sat cross-legged on.

the floor of their main room as mourners. kind of trickled in and out to pay their. respects they told me about him. um his name was Gary P. asadov he was an ethnic kazak like most. of his relatives but to his friends and. family he was known by his Russian. nickname. Vita.

he was a softspoken. farmer and shortly after Vladimir Putin. announced a general. mobilization officials from the military. commissariat came to his house and told. him he was going with. them and so you know his family said. that though he didn't expect to be. drafted as soon as he was called up he. said it was his duty.

and he went that very day to start his. military. training but after just a few months. into his Tour of Duty he was killed in a. part of Ukraine that had been a meat. grinder for Russian. soldiers shortly after we arrived a. military Convoy came carrying his. body.

his mother sobbed most of the day and. one of his sisters was wailing so much. that she needed to take. sedatives and just witnessing the pain. it was. immense and then the whole village. assembled for a formal ceremony for him. with military.

honors the head of the district. government even came to. speak he gave a patriotic speech about. him dying for the sake of. Freedom he said it is precisely thanks. to guys like him that there are peaceful. Skies over our country and by. participating in the special military. operation which is what Russia calls the.

war they are protecting our freedom our. lives and the health of our. children so what did the family make of. all of this well despite the fact that. they had lost their son their brother in. the war despite the the poverty and pain. of this small village. community.

you hear them embracing certain elements. of Putin's messaging around the. war you know many relatives repeated a. lot of the shorthand that Putin has been. using from the. beginning saying that this was for the. good of the motherland you. know and that this has long been Russian. Terror.

that most of Ukraine has always. historically been a part of Russia that. ukrainians and Russians are actually one. ethnic. [Music]. group one thing that really stuck out to. me the most was the fervent belief that. this is a war against the. West there was a strong conviction that. the West had turned Ukraine against. Russia and and this was not a war of.

choice for. Putin so you know I don't think this was. purely that they were taking Putin's. propaganda wholesale you know but you. could see a need to make sense of their. loss and to understand the tragedy that. befell their. [Music]. family but there is another ele in this. too you know which is something the the.

family didn't really speak about and. that's the fact that you know men who. often are not able to really provide. very much for their families while. they're alive know that if they do die. their family can get you know somewhere. up to 60 70. $80,000 in compensation payments after. their death wow so extremely meaningful. for a family like VZ absolutely you know.

this is a place where presumably people. are you know living on maybe the. equivalent of a hundred a couple hundred. dollars a month so these salaries are an. incredible Boon and in fact you know. Putin in his most recent State of the. Union speech last month actually talked. about wanting to elevate the role of. soldiers and veterans in society and. give them more leadership roles and uh. more opportunities and you know this is.

widely perceived as an attempt by Putin. to kind of re-engineer a new middle. class comprised of people involved in. the war effort wow God I mean it's very. dark but it's also quite cunning of. Putin right that there is an economic. element to this war for the people who. are dying and that is something that can. blunt any potential political opposition. to it so the people doing the dying are.

not going to be the people asking the. questions in part because this money is. coming in and he knows that yes and I. mean Sabrina I've spoken to other family. members who have lost their sons and and. husbands in this war and they all say. that no amount of money can can bring. back their son but it does have an. effect of making these families far less. vocal and far less um prone to uniting. in some kind of a pro movement that. could challenge.

Putin but you know Sabrina with with all. that being said the longer I spent time. in the kirov. house the more I realized that there. were so many layers to this family's. grief and that there were people present. at the funeral who really aren't on the. same page about this war so tell me.

about those people so I had this really. surreal reporting experience after this. military honors ceremony the Crimson. military issued casket was actually. brought into the house where according. to local custom VTO was to spend one. final night at home before being buried. in a nearby cemetery and as members of. his family gathered around his.

coffin they got into a debate actually. about why he died wow you know they're. gathered around his CIT nobody knows. what was inside the members of the. family knew that the body had actually. been decomposing for some time in the. trench before the Russians were able to. to get it out so you know many people. were heartbroken that they they couldn't. wash the body they couldn't see the body. and I think that drove. one of the family members especially to.

start speaking out against the. [Music]. war he called the war in Ukraine. nonsense. wow and then he said what defending the. motherland from. who he said that he thought the people. who believed that this war was necessary. had been in some kind of a.

stuper he was one of the few people in. the family who was willing to say. actually we attacked Ukraine not the. other way around you know amazing there. were other people around who chimed. in one family member compared it to to. Putin's annexation of Crimea saying you. know what do we even need that for in. other words like Russia is already such.

a vast and huge country I mean the. biggest one territorially in the world. like why do we need new territories and. this idea of a greater unified Russia. encompassing Ukrainian land wasn't. really Landing for. [Music]. him I mean these are very brave. questions right you know saying this. also to you sitting there an American. reporter. like this is the thing Putin has really.

been focused on the people not say. things like this right and and yet there. they were saying these things against. the war there's no doubt this is a. really dangerous thing to say to a. journalist at a time. when the Russian government is really. policing all kind of dissenting voices. on this war and the extent of repression. in Russia now is so strong wrong that.

even Whispering about them can get you. in huge trouble can land you in jail can. land you with a fine you know with my. colleague Anton trnovski and and other. members of the our Bureau we've been. reporting on the way that you know. people have been fined for anti-war. scribbles on a bathroom wall or a simple. you know request to a DJ to play a song. by a Ukrainian musician not to mention. people who take the risk of standing in.

the street with an anti-war slogan right. boosting the economy and paying off. soldiers is one thing but repression is. really the foundation of what Putin has. been up to here absolutely I mean that's. what holds this whole system together. right you know there are a lot of people. in Russia who share anti-war views and. who are fed up with more than two. decades of Putin in power but they have. very little recourse to do anything to.

change the situation at this. point we've been reminded of that in the. past few weeks in the aftermath of the. death of Alexa naani the biggest and. most important opposition politician and. dissident in post Soviet Russia you know. his supporters have shown up to. memorials to his funeral but everywhere. you turn you're reminded of the. repression that still keeps all of them. in. check I went to some of the memorials.

and watched as riot police stood on. checking people's IDs and encouraging. people not to linger while I was there I. talked to a 17-year-old student who said. he had been too scared to put down. flowers because of possible consequences. and you know he's right to worry I mean. hundreds of people have been arrested. across Russia for the simple Act of. laying down flowers or publicly Mourning. Mr naal wow so even in this moment where.

the opposition may have been galvanized. to some degree in the leadup to election. day we're still reminded of the hold. that Putin has on. [Music]. Russia so Valerie to answer the question. you started with you know how has Putin. managed to keep such a tight grip on. things repression is still Central to. how he's doing that but he's also worked. extremely hard to keep people happy. right in malls with their iPhones.

keeping the economy going and also. paying out those bonuses to soldiers. families in these very poor areas and at. this moment heading into his reelection. that's all basically. working that's true Sabrina but these. are a lot of plates he's spinning you. know trying to keep the economy afloat. while paying huge salaries to military. personnel and you know revamping the.

entire military industry the Kremlin has. dipped into reserves to make these. Financial payments the economy has. changed so much and no one knows how it. will be affected in the long run the oil. price could change and on top of that. the kernel of descent remains despite. this inertia of. repression interesting so you know he's. of course very much in control but it's. tenuous right I mean for it to work.

Putin really needs to keep his eyes on. all of these areas at once absolutely. Sabrina I mean it's a precarious. [Music]. balance and you know traveling across. this vast country I've seen the. tremendous power and reach of Putin even. if these elections are not legitimate. he's still on the cusp of becoming one. of the longest serving leaders in. Russia's history. and that is a testament to his.

tremendous staying power but you also do. see the cracks and the tension here and. so the question is whether these cracks. begin to widen or whether Putin will. prevail as he has over yet another. tumultuous period in Russia's. [Music]. history Valerie thank you thank you. Sabrina.

Alexa naval's Widow Julia naal has. called on Russians who oppos Putin to. show up at the polls at noon on Sunday. as a sign of collective protest earlier. this week naval's top Aid Leonid vov who. was helping lead that call to action was. beaten and sprayed with tear gas near. his home in vilnus. Lithuania just hours before the attack. vov had in an interview in which he. expressed concern for the safety of.

naval's supporters saying quote the key. risk is that we will all be. killed we'll be right. [Music]. back.

here's what else you should know today a. jury in Michigan found James Crumbley. guilty of involuntary manslaughter. holding him partially responsible for. failing to prevent his son from carrying. out the state's deadliest school. shooting in. 2021 crumley's wife was convicted of. similar charges in a separate trial last. month the couple's parenting skills had. come under intense scrutiny as had their. son's access to a handgun that his. father had bought now two separate.

juries have taken the unusual step of. holding parents criminally responsible. for their child's. crimes and Senate Majority Leader Chuck. Schumer of New York condemned Israeli. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during. a speech on the senate floor calling him. a major obstacle to peace in the Middle. East and calling for new leadership in. Israel as a lifelong supporter of Israel.

it has become clear to me the Netanyahu. Coalition no longer fits the needs of. Israel after October 7th Schumer's. speech was the sharpest critique yet. from a senior American elected official. he was effectively urging Israelis to. replace Netanyahu who is under. indictment in Israel for bribery and. fraud I believe in his heart he has his. highest priority is the security of his. Israel however I also believe prime.

minister Netanyahu has lost his way. Schumer the highest ranking Jewish. elected official in the United States. said that he believed that Netanyahu had. chosen himself and his ambition as a. politician over his country Schumer also. said that Netanyahu had allowed too many. civilian deaths in Gaza which he argued. had reduced support for Israel around. the world.

World today's episode was produced by. Rob zipco Mary Wilson and Shannon Lynn. with help from Summer tamod it was. edited by Brendan clink BG and Michael. benois fact checked by Susan Lee and. Milana maaya contains original music by. Dan Powell and Maran Lozano and. translations by Milana mazaya it was. engineered by Chris Wood our theme music. is by Jim brunberg and Ben Lanser of.

[Music]. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina tavernes see you on. [Music]. Monday.