Spare parts, services, books and travel: what Russians miss the most because of sanctions

Social service of questions and answers Quora conducted a survey of Russians about what they lack most of all after the imposition of Western sanctions.

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Quora is a social knowledge-sharing service, a question and answer website of its users from different countries, founded in June 2009 by Adam d'Angelo and Charlie Cheever. The service uses an algorithm to rank the value of each user's answer based on the ratings of his previous answers.

Hundreds of thousands of people across Russia have lost their jobs after the West imposed wide-ranging economic sanctions designed to limit Moscow's ability to wage war and undermine public support for President Vladimir Putin. Russia was disconnected from SWIFT, Apple left Russia, many foreign companies ceased their activities in the aggressor country. How do ordinary people feel the impact of the sanctions? What do they miss the most in the new realities?

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Ekaterina Khudyakova, who lives in Russia, wrote that she lacked Visa/Mastercard services. She cannot pay for Coursera, Italki, MultipleSignht, Airbnb and other services.

“I cannot pass exams and receive some professional certificates because certification centers are “temporarily” closed. At work we have problems with inteliji, slack, aws licenses. Our government comes up with measures to keep IT workers from moving, but these measures are ridiculous,” she says.

She says that she does not miss the clothes and food that have left the Russian market, this is not a big problem for her.

“The problem is technology and brain drain. I think it is too early for most people to see the consequences of sanctions. But their obvious consequences will be severe,” she says.

Alex D. Sustone has lived in Russia from 1987 to the present. He says what he really lacks is a sense of stability and control over his own life.

“I don't know if my friends or I will be called up, or we'll be the next to be invaded, or someone is going to blow us up, or we're going to blow up someone, or something else equally bad will happen. And NOBODY can do ANYTHING to stop this madness. “We don’t have any obvious meaningful way to influence our own government in this regard, and even if we did, it’s not just our government that needs to be influenced (and I don’t mean Ukraine),” he says. - So, in terms of money and goods? This is obvious, but so far solvable. In terms of psychological trauma? This is not good".

“I don’t have enough original spare parts for my car, the dealer told me to wait 2-3 months. This is the front bumper, not something secondary. If I paid cash it would be done, but it's covered by insurance so I'm just waiting. Currently, he has been in Amsterdam for more than a month,” says Ivan Novoselov. “If we talk about services that I miss, it’s Steam.”

“I miss the business opportunities (Asia is less profitable) and the ease of payments,” he says. — I miss being able to travel. Not that I used them much, but I had plans for retirement.”

“I also miss German fittings for furniture with an automatic lock; Russian ones wear out too quickly and are not childproof when a two-year-old child slams the cabinet door for hours,” says Ivan. “Currently (November 22) I can buy 10 Russian fittings for the price of one German one, so perhaps replacing them frequently is also an option.”

Alexey Korolev says he doesn’t like the inability to pay in Apple Pay stores. “I have to get used to the cards again. I'm thinking of going back to Android. MIRPay and SberPay work there,” he says.

User Christy Nochka writes that, in her opinion, prices for dental services (especially for orthodontics, implants and prosthetics) have risen sharply. This was the most painful for her.

“Russia is very dependent on imports in some aspects. I'm also upset that I can no longer order the vitamins I'm used to. They stopped deliveries due to logistics problems. Prices for imported equipment have also increased noticeably, and supply on the market has decreased. I had to buy a laptop at a higher price. Prices for sewing equipment have also increased significantly. Russia does not produce it. “I love to sew and, unfortunately, I’m not ready to buy it at the new prices,” she says. — Also now opportunities in terms of tourism have decreased. I was interested in some places in Europe that I did not have time to visit. On the other hand, tourism opportunities have decreased not only for Russians. The coronavirus has affected many countries.”

Igor Ruzin wrote that as a result of the sanctions, Gillette blades have tripled in price, and now 6 blades cost about $23. “It’s too expensive for local salaries. We'll have to look for a domestic alternative. A sharp axe, perhaps? Sushi knife?” wrote Igor.

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“Only books. As a scientist, I bought a lot of books from Amazon and Abebooks. Now we have to wait until the pirates make them publicly available,” wrote Alexey Kupriyanov.

Vladimir Morozov wrote that he is not missing anything. “I don’t use any Western goods or services—everything I need is made in Russia, China and other non-Western countries. I don't visit Western countries, so I don't care about their transit blockade. Due to Western sanctions, Ukrainian IT developers are now removed from the Russian IT market, so I have new opportunities for my IT business,” he says.

He writes that he had only two minor problems due to the sanctions: for three or four weeks there was a shortage of some medications needed by members of his family - these drugs are now available at the same price as before the sanctions, he says. And he had to transfer his Internet projects from European servers to Russian ones.

Oleg Gerashchenko writes that he misses Visa and Mastercard. “I used to be able to pay for my overseas subscriptions for my business. And buy affordable air tickets,” he says.

Mikhail Pustovalov says he misses the Playstation Store/Network. “I miss travel opportunities - I've been to most European countries, but I haven't had time to visit London and Norway. I am especially sorry that I will probably not be able to visit the Musée de l'Armée in Paris again,” he writes.

Zdaz Zdazov writes that he misses PayPal. “All my American clients (I’m a freelance artist) are now forced to use the only thing that works here (the Russian equivalent of Patreon). I have to teach them every time. Not that I suffered from it, but they did. And no, I haven’t lost clients - they come for my skills and style, and learning a new system is easier than finding a new artist you like,” he wrote.

“Music, because Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music stopped supplying new music to the Russian market,” says Evgeny Polyakov.

Konstantin Chernoukhov says he is missing out on his business opportunities. He is a freelance translator specializing primarily in technical matters.

“I very much regret that there are no targeted sanctions against all relatives of our government members who do not live in Russia. Why?? Our officials criticize the West, and their children continue to enjoy life abroad. These sanctions, including blocking all their bank accounts, would be much more effective than, for example, McDonald's decision to leave Russia. Please tell your authorities about this,” he wrote.

Viktor Yakovenko says that he is used to a two-week vacation, traveling abroad about 8 times a year, now European destinations are not available to him. He is working on getting a Central American country passport to get around this restriction.

“However, some difficulties will arise due to the lack of air links with Europe. Additionally, I have to rely on cryptocurrencies to get my money out of Russia. I will add that these Western sanctions are aimed at those people who have nothing to do with the war. In reality, they only help Putin finance his war, and they only force the Russians to stay in Russia and keep their money in Russia, giving Putin a financial resource to fight the war,” he says.

Grigory Kislin complains about the inability to buy historical non-fiction books in stores such as Amazon, Abebooks and the lack of live performances by metal bands.

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Nick Ladushkin says that what he most lacks is the confidence that he is surrounded by adequate people who “would be against the outbreak of aggressive wars and responsibility for supporting war crimes.”

“I miss not being considered part of a nation that is hostile to every other part of the world except the third world dictatorships. I miss my Ukrainian friends, who cannot forgive all my people for “waking up to the sound of rockets.” I miss the employer who almost hired me, but then rightly considered that hiring a Russian would be toxic for the work environment. I miss my previous employer who had to cut costs and liquidate 1/2 of the company because it was integrated into an international supply chain and had partners all over the world. I miss not feeling like a hostage in my own home,” he wrote.

“No sanctions bother me more than these poor innocent people and children who are killed every day. And I miss freedom of speech and human rights much more than Levi’s jeans or Apple Pay,” wrote user Tanya Baramzina.

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