Life in Russia under Vladimir Putin is often presented to the outside world through grand military parades, gleaming city centres and official statistics, but this film looks at the reality behind the image. It counts down ten grim realities of everyday life, from falling living standards and corruption to crumbling healthcare, poor roads, low wages and the gap between a wealthy elite and ordinary people struggling to get by. The Russia it shows is not the one on state television, but the one experienced in small towns and tower blocks far from Moscow.
The video draws on reports, statistics and first-hand accounts to explain how a country rich in oil, gas and natural resources can leave so many of its citizens poor. It looks at the concentration of wealth among a small group of oligarchs and officials, the weakness of independent courts and media, and the fear that discourages people from speaking out. Corruption, the film argues, is not an accident in Putin’s Russia, but a central feature of how power works.
This matters because it challenges the image of strength and stability that the Kremlin projects. For viewers who want to understand why discontent has grown in Russia, and why protests and opposition movements have emerged despite repression, this clear-eyed survey of daily life is a useful starting point.