A shock after the original sanctions has passed. Russia has learned to function and flip reality in the last year and a half.
The nihilistic attitude of the population towards their everyday needs and their unending tolerance for suffering and humiliation, as in previous historical instances, is a vital resource for the Russian war campaign.
The Kremlin makes the most of this resource as a substantial source of support while using other sources for waging war, primarily the economic and military force.
Motivating the people to support the aggression against Ukraine without reservations is accomplished by a rather brutal falsification of reality, but for now, it still works.
Limited travel and empty banks
It's vacation season, but Russians cannot travel as they did before.However, Turkey and Dubai are still available.
Instead of traveling to Europe, Russian government officials and employees of numerous state-owned companies and institutions are now heading to Cuba, Vietnam, or even Venezuela.
Dubai is a famous destination for middle-class and upper-middle-class Russians. No visa is required for Dubai. Even though visas are currently challenging to obtain, it is still possible to secure a French visa in Moscow for a little over $1,000.
The ruble has fallen to its lowest level, and $1 is now worth 95 rubles, while in 2013, $1 was slightly over 30 rubles.
Banks in Moscow are now offering accounts in UAE dirham and Chinese yuan instead of USD and EUR accounts.
Many Russian people who escaped to Turkey or Dubai after the war started have been visiting Moscow regularly, offering consultancy and other services to those who have remained in Russia. The country is learning how to live differently.
Civil servants will not drive Ladas
Now and then, bombs are dropped on Moscow and Russia. It is conceivable to think that everything is going to hell. But in reality, this isn't the case.
Athletes from Russia are prohibited from competing in international competitions. But, just like with everything else lacking, an alternative is required. For this reason, Russia is promoting the CIS Games, which are currently happening in Belarus and are a CIS member state's equivalent of the Olympics.
In Russian alternative reality, everything is possible. Putin, for example, just recently requested all public officials to use Russian vehicles.
Of course, the majority of public officials will continue using German vehicles, but one can be sure that the average TV viewer was impressed with Putin’s patriotic initiative.
Putin said that in front of the cameras to please the average Russians, not to force the political class to suffer while riding domestic rubbish automobiles, which have no automatic gearbox because the Russian auto industry cannot produce it just yet.
Russia is an alternative reality country. Russian provincials are joining the contract army because they are offered about $2,5 thousand per month, more than they make in a year working and living in remote regions of Russia.
This came apparent when a $100 million yacht belonging to Dmitri Medvedev, former president and prime minister, was spotted in Spain.
Probably Medvedev himself was not on the yacht, but his patriotic wife may have been there with her friends or family.
The public feeds on gossip
People in Moscow were intrigued by the Lamborghini that caught fire in one of Moscow's central and luxurious neighbourhoods, among other typical patriotic and war-related, mostly fictitious episodes.
Or why Khabib Nurmagomedov, a former MMA champion, declined to train Elon Musk for an absurd cage match versus Mark Zuckerberg.
The Kremlin-controlled state media has covered this extensively, drawing attention away from issues like the state's financial collapse because all other benefits will be reduced as military (war) spending increased to as much as one-third of the total budget.
But who cares as long as people are told that the singers and performers who left Russia in protest after the war started are suffering in Europe or Israel.
Life is not (yet) catastrophic in Russia. The Russian upper class has been learning how to adjust and cheat sanctions. Californian wine is still available in Moscow, similar to Gucci and other designer clothes.
For the problems of the impoverished, consolation comes from state propaganda, which will easily find the causes of the trouble elsewhere in the world.
Others are to blame for the problems
Alexey Navalny, an opposition politician, was sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison. At the same time, Russians were informed that the Biden administration wants to sentence Donald Trump, President Biden's main political opponent, to more than 400 years in prison simply because Trump objected to the presidency, which he legitimately won, being stolen from him.
Regarding Africa, the Russian patriotic majority loves that the people of Niger ousted the pro-French president.
Draft notifications can now be sent online so Russian men who received such calls can no longer leave Russia.
That is why the recent barbaric bombardment of Ukraine, just like the previous ones, was accepted by the people of Russia as something Russia must do. No sympathy or compassion, just geopolitical Russia think.
The Kremlin has given the Russian people an entire nation to hate, despise, molest and humiliate.
The pressure is not enough
The prominent Russian journalist Anton Krasovsky, who had previously been sanctioned, has been taken off the sanctions list. He once said that it is acceptable to kill Ukrainian children.
The “khokhols”, a derogatory term for Ukrainians, can now be blamed for everything negative happening in Russia and regarding Russia.
If someone in Russia doesn’t agree with the Kremlin’s course – that is only because Ukrainian intelligence subverted him.
The trouble with the West – that’s because traitors from the “khokhol” ethnicity sold their souls to Western globalists and the American deep state. The same deep state that deprived peace-seeking Trump of the presidency.
It is now acceptable to bomb Ukrainian cities, relocate (steal) Ukrainian children to Russia and annihilate Ukrainian culture.
If the world is going through such turbulent times, who cares that $1 is now 95 rubles, when salaries are about the same, utilities are more expensive, while prices have been dramatically increasing because everything is linked to the ruble-dollar exchange rate?
The world is currently experiencing a wealth of fascinating events, and the Russian propaganda continues to fabricate new ones to entertain and divert attention away from the reality that the actual worth of the patriotic majority's income or pension has decreased by 300% over the past ten years.
Pressure on Russia is insufficient. The momentum was wasted when Russia could have been caught by surprise. Russia is now prepared to suffer.
