One of the first questions put to me by a reader via the Comments function with respect to Monday’s report of my initial impressions after arriving in St Petersburg was: and what is the general mood of people? I begged off answering, saying that I would have to speak to a lot more people before I could confidently answer that question.
And in all truth, what I am about to say is still based on a very small sampling, combined with observations of what is being said on public television. But I think the overall contours of the ‘public mood’ are emerging to my satisfaction and can be shared.
In a nutshell: ‘life goes on.’ The fear of economic upheaval, fear of losing one’s job or small business, fear of price inflation and volatile exchange rates which I saw at the beginning of the Special Military Operation – all of that has dissipated. In my own immediate surroundings nothing could confirm that better than what occurred yesterday in our dealings with the first prospective Buyer of our little farm property south of Petersburg. In mid-September, she had placed a deposit on the purchase with the broker but then backed out of the deal over fears for the future when the partial mobilization was announced. Yesterday she sat down with us in the notary’s office and then at the bank which was opening escrow accounts for execution of the sale-purchase. She signed all the papers and the deal proceeded to the stage of re-registration of the title deeds. That was an unspoken but dramatic confirmation that someone from the ranks of the Russian middle class, someone working for a living, has enough confidence in the future to make a personal investment in a fixed asset that you cannot put in the back of your car and take across the border.
Continue reading “Feet on the Ground in St. Petersburg: The Public Mood”