FORBIDDEN MOSCOW : THE SECRET LIFE OF A CAPITAL AT WAR | M6 | Enquête Exclusive

January 2024. Russia is a forbidden country. Nearly two years ago, Vladimir Putin invaded his Ukrainian neighbor and unleashed a battery of unprecedented sanctions against his country, designed to isolate it politically, diplomatically and economically, and suffocate its regime.  Sanctioned, boycotted and ostracized, 150 million Russians are now “ostracized” by the West. But make no mistake, their lives go on. The civil servant administers, the businessman trades, the youth, eager to get out and about, gets drunk in Moscow’s posh nightclubs. According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (BRED), Russia’s GDP will exceed that of the euro zone by 2023. When it comes to Western brands, which are supposed to have “disappeared” from Russian shelves, smuggling takes over. Finding Chanel, Yves Rocher or Mercedes is just a question of organization. And with good reason. Supplies are made via relay countries. So don’t be surprised to be served an original Coca Cola made in Armenia in a Georgian restaurant near Red Square

Despite the few Ukrainian drone attacks they suffered in the summer of 2023, for Muscovites, the Donbass is far away and the sound of cannon remains a distant rumble.

What’s going on in the heart of the capital and in the hearts of Russians? Nobody really knows, as very few Western journalists have the necessary permits to visit the country. An exceptional immersion in a Russian capital under Western sanctions.