83-year-old Vera Ivanovna has seen it all in her long life and says that life under Putin is the worst she's ever seen in Russia. "I was unhappy with the old Soviet regime, but there was no such ugliness as there is now! At last then there was some hope for a better future. At least apartments were given out then, that was at least something. You can't be a ruler for 20 years, his vision is already completely blurred. Everybody lies to him! And he's like [makes a face]...I hate to look at him. I don't want to see him. 20 years in power! No shame, no conscience! He's a bastard!"
Vera didn't have anything good to say about young people, either those who support Putin's madness or those who are too timid to speak out against it. "Why are young people silent?" she asks. She's not afraid though to call the upcoming presidential election a sham (something all Russians know, but few are willing to say out loud). So this old lady has more courage than most Russians, even giving out her name to be used. Completely fearless about any consequences.
Source: Russian Life
With all the swirling misinformation and storms of conflicting reports fluttering out of Russia these days, it's hard to parse what's real and what's not. Fortunately, for a more grounded approach, there's 1420 by Daniil Orain.
1420 is a YouTube channel that focuses on street interviews with real-life, everyday Russians. The host asks questions — sometimes difficult, usually open-ended — to see what passersby think about current affairs, history, and modern life in Russia.
Topics range from nostalgia for the USSR to propaganda old and new to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. If you've been educated in the West, or haven't spent much time asking Russians' opinions, you may be surprised by some answers.
Perhaps 1420's greatest strength is that its interviewees are diverse: young and old, highly educated and not, urban and rural. Although most videos appear to be filmed in Moscow, question responses can be all over the map.
For anyone curious about what the everyday Russian thinks, as the country grows more isolated in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, 1420 is an invaluable resource.
