A boy walking past wooden communal apartments, built for workers in 1906 during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, in the centre of the town of Ivanteyevka, Russia. — AFP
TAMARA pointed to her dilapidated wooden house in a town outside Moscow and lamented the economic hardships of daily life in small town Russia.
“Our fathers fought hard and we are left to live in these shacks,” she said in Ivanteyevka, a town of around 80,000 people some 30km from central Moscow.
As Russia celebrated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany with a grand military parade in front of some 25 foreign leaders, Tamara said she wanted politicians to remember how Russians like her are struggling.
“Our authorities have no shame,” said the 65-year old, declining to give her surname.
“They tell us it’s tough for them to see us living here. Well, try living here instead of us.”
Her anger is not directed at the Kremlin, less than an hour’s drive away, or Russian President Vladimir Putin, but rather at the local administration.
They had “promised to tear down our shacks and relocate us”, she said.
Her crumbling wooden dormitory was built for workers in 1906, during the reign of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II.
It stands in the centre of the town, next to a few others but surrounded by more modern apartment blocks.
She occupies a 12 square metre bedroom in the 29-room dormitory.
Residents share a single kitchen and bathroom. Orthodox icons hang on the walls, as does a picture of Putin on a horse.
Tamara, who used to work in a now-shut textile factory, spends a quarter of her monthly US$240 pension on utilities.
“Perhaps our country has enough money for our retirees to receive a decent pension, not the miserable one we get,” she said. “We are a great and rich country.”
Russia’s economy has grown strongly since it launched its military offensive on Ukraine, buoyed by high government spending on soldiers and weapons.
But inflation has soared – and for those like Tamara who are not benefitting from the boom in state spending, higher prices mean a struggle to find enough money to cover basic necessities.
Despite her own difficulties, Tamara believes the grandiose celebrations in Moscow were worth it.
Like many of her generation, her father fought in World War II and the public holiday is important to her.
However, in Ivanteyevka, Russia’s offensive on Ukraine still casts a shadow.
Victory Day “is a good celebration”, said Nina Murashova, a 67-year-old businesswoman.
“But I have a heavy heart because of what is happening these days,” she added.
“I’m worried for our guys who are dying. We’re waiting for a victory, a second victory,” she said, echoing the wave of patriotism sweeping across Putin’s Russia.
Putin ordered Russia’s troops into Ukraine in February 2022 – a campaign that has since killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.
Russia controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014.
Putin has used the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II as one of the rallying cries for his Ukraine campaign.
He said that the offensive was launched to “de-Nazify” Ukraine – a claim Kyiv has called “incomprehensible”.
Inside Russia, criticism of the army has been outlawed, with dissenters arrested or forced into exile.
Murashova said she is kept up at night by worries that her grandson, who has just completed his compulsory 12-month military service, could be sent to fight in Ukraine.
She said it is painful to see soldiers returning from Ukraine “without legs, without arms”.
Elena Maximkina, a 56-year-old security guard, was walking with her granddaugther, donning a Soviet-era military cap that is popular around Victory Day.
“I only see the war on TV and on my mobile phone. But I don’t really feel it here,” she said, before pausing: “Though it is true that drones are flying overhead.”
The Kremlin has tried to shield Russians from the fallout of its offensive.
But in the run-up to the parade, Ukraine fired dozens of drones at Russia.
Little damage has been recorded, but it caused travel chaos across the country, disrupting more than 350 flights.
Despite the patriotic fervour whipped up by Putin, some still question the offensive on Ukraine.
“What’s the point of this war?” asked Nadezhda, a 76-year-old born amid the post-WWII devastation. — AFP
