How are everyday Russians being impacted by the war in Ukraine?

'The prices of vegetables and other types of food are the same as the previous autumn,' one local man told me in broken English.

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After landing in Russia, I was told to visit Preobrazhensky Market. Preobrazhensky Market is one of the oldest farmers' markets in Moscow.

Located about 10km outside of center city, the market has a different clientele than downtown Moscow. There are no fancy stores like Prada or Louis Vuitton, which surprisingly are littered around the downtown area.

Preobrazhensky Market is where people from all over the region go to sell local vegetables, fruit, meat, cheese, and even clothing. I asked locals if the prices when buying or selling their goods have changed since the war began in February.

“The prices of vegetables and other types of food are the same as the previous autumn,” one local man told me in broken English.

Most people at the market were not willing to get political with me and talk about the war — either out of fear of government reprisal or because I’m obviously from the U.S. — the country financing the opposite side of the war.

“There will be peace…it’s all very political…but Russia is not at fault,” one vegetable vendor told me.

Some of the workers there said they were being watched on closed-circuit TV by their bosses, so they’d better not talk. Maybe they were wise — because out of the blue, a policeman appeared and demanded to know what we were doing!

Thankfully, my Russian translators jumped in to smooth things over with the policeman — I didn’t say a word, so he didn’t know I was a foreign journalist. (Our translator told him we were Russian bloggers, and that seemed to satisfy him.)

Watch the entire report from Preobrazhensky Market above and go to RussianReports.com to stay up to date with all of my work from Russia.

If you can support us, please do. Between my economy-class airfare, accommodations, an interpreter, a fixer, and a Moscow lawyer, we expect the total cost of this trip to be $11,000. If you can help us, please do. 

Being independent is the only reason we can do this mission; but it also means that we need your help to pay for it.

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