“There are people like nuts: solid and soft inside. In America - on the contrary "

Americans tell how they live in Russia in the era of sanctions and the "New Cold War"

On January 29, the US Department of Finance published a “Kremlin list” - a list of “close associates” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, against which new sanctions can be imposed (although some of these people are already under sanctions). In Russia, the appearance of the list was called "political paranoia." Medusa talked with US citizens living in the Russian Federation about how politics affects their everyday life.

Andy Frek

Mytishchi, entrepreneur, in Russia about 19 years

I moved to Russia in 1999. He flew to Perm for religious matters - as a missionary as part of a Christian mission. I knew little about Russia then, it was a real extreme. I immediately liked everything, despite the frost of 40 degrees and so on. I moved to Moscow in 2010, when I started doing business - to help the expels in search of housing. Now my family and I live in Mytishchi: the children did not want to live in an apartment, and we live in a private house. They like it, and I go to Moscow by train.

When I just arrived, the attitude towards the Americans was quite intense due to the conflict in Yugoslavia. For various reasons, this tension remained for all 19 years. As everyone treated me with suspicion from the very beginning, and this still continues. Who knows me well-it’s smoking, but almost every day someone jokingly hints that I am a CIA agent or something like that. After all, it cannot be that the American just lived in Russia.

At the official level, I never had problems due to the fact that I am an American. Neither in business, nor in the migration service, nor in the tax, nowhere. Everywhere they are very good; On the contrary, they try to help. But on the street someone can say something when they hear the emphasis. When meeting, they ask me: why did you come? And I answer: Russia is a great country, why are you surprised that someone may want to live here?

In fact, I like in Russia. You can simultaneously love both countries - both Russia and America. There is nothing like that.

In Russia, people are like nuts: solid and soft inside; In America - on the contrary. When a Russian man smiles, it means that he really has everything good. If the American smiles, then he is at work and must smile. I also like that if the Russian is really working, then he plows directly, if he is lazy, then he cannot find a more lazy person. Everything is in extremes, this is amazing.

In recent years, when relations between countries have deteriorated, in my life this was reflected only by the fact that they began to talk more about the conflict. Many people think that either Obama or the State Department is to blame for everything. I see some inscriptions about Obama on cars. But when I talk with the Russians, everything passes peacefully with us. There is no aggression, people just want to speak out, explain their point of view on the situation: every Russian citizen has something to say to the US State Department, but they cannot reach him. And I - here he is, you can talk to me. So usually I just listen, I do not impose anything on anyone.

Of course, it is psychologically strained that states cannot find a common language, but so far the sanctions do not particularly affect me. Yes, there are fewer expansion, for business it is bad. Well, the other cheese has become in stores - this is not so bad, I don’t really eat it. True, I remember when I learned about the response sanctions, about the restrictions on the trade in products, I went to the nearest Auchan and bought up all the peanut oil that was there. But then it did not disappear from the sale, so everything was in vain.

Today I read about this list in the media, I think that America behaves incorrectly by imposing sanctions. Even if Russia did something wrong, why should America teach it?

Now both of our states are incorrect, but we, ordinary people, should just live peacefully and enjoy life. And while we seem to do it.

Benjamin Davis

St. Petersburg, writer, in Russia for more than a year and a half

In the USA, I lived in a small town in Massachusetts. He studied on a philosopher there, then worked as a nurse in the hospital. One of the wards died - not my fault, but it was difficult for me to put up with it, and I left the hospital. Then I was offered to go to teach to China, and I agreed. There I decided to travel further, ended up in Russia, 2017 I spent in St. Petersburg. With my friend - Russian artist Nikita Klimov - we agreed that every day I will write one story about Russia, and Nikita will make illustrations for them. Our project is available online .

When I moved to Russia, I did not think about politics. Nothing confused me but cold weather. My interest in Russia is not political, but cultural. I even thought, and now I think that in all countries people are the same. Russia is no exception.

Relations between our countries do not affect my life. Most of my friends are Russians, my Russian girlfriend. I constantly communicate with the Russians, and acquaintance always happens the same. They ask why I moved to Russia, and I answer them: "I do not know, but I am very happy that I did it." After that, everything goes very friendly.

In the work, my origin also does not interfere. My stories read a lot of people from Russia, they use them as a training in English. But they sometimes ask: "What the hell did you move to Russia?"

I do not particularly encounter anti -Americanism. Some sellers in the store smile at my Russian friends, but frown when I cannot understand something in Russian. I suspect that one of the salesmen on my street hid anger at me. True, most likely, this is not due to my citizenship, but with the fact that one day I paid for the stake of a five -thousandth bill.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where countries impose sanctions against each other. Even worse, sometimes they are necessary. If we talk about previous sanctions, then I have mixed feelings. America intervenes in the affairs of other countries much more often than the rest. But they do not like it when other countries try to do the same.

As for the list we learned about today: America with great difficulty recognizes its own shortcomings. The role of Russia in the election of the US President testifies not to the strength of Russia, but about the sad state of America. Manipulations with media, Facebook and even all the money of the world cannot completely hide the complete incompetence of the American voter, who put such a shameful person as Donald Trump at the helm of the country. If you let a wild monkey into your house, you do not need to be angry with a neighbor who suddenly decides to feed her.

Of course, periodically I come to the United States, but I do not plan to move there and leave Russia for a long time. I thought what a proposal would describe life in Russia. So: “Cold, darkness, a sea of ​​vodka and secrets”, but I like it.

Max Kupsen

St. Petersburg, an English teacher, has been living in Russia for more than two years

For the first time I arrived in Russia on December 31, 2015. He flew to Yekaterinburg - I was recovering with a girl from there, we met in Seoul, where I had lived and worked before. My first impression of the country is a huge holiday. But in the Urals I did not stay. It was difficult to find a job, and very cold. For several days in a row there was −40 degrees, my eyelids simply froze into one, when I went out into the street. So I decided to leave Yekaterinburg, but to stay in Russia, because I liked it here. Of course, it’s still cold, but I like it, and I like to travel: when I lived in the USA, I visited 46 states, then I began to go to other countries. Russians often ask me why I moved here, because many of them, on the contrary, want to leave for the United States. I think this is almost the same thing. People just want to try something new, and if you can live a good life in another country, it's great.

From Yekaterinburg, I moved to Petersburg, where to find friends and work is much easier. A couple of times a year I fly to the family in the USA, but I constantly live here. For two years I learned a lot about Russia. When I arrived, I had a typical American opinion about your country: Russians live under the control of the dictator and have no rights. I was a little nervous in the first months, I thought that the FSB could follow me or listen to me. But then I realized that these are all fictions - I am not such an important person that the FSB steam about me. Until now, I’m only nervous that they can deport me at any time. For example, Trump will write some stupid tweet, and Putin will decide to take revenge.

In ordinary life, I noticed the negative attitude of Russians towards the United States only once or two. I remember that one woman in a cafe called Hillary Clinton a bitch when there were elections [US President]. In relation to me, this was not. Although I think that in this sense Petersburg is very different from smaller cities. And the same in the USA. If you are Russian in New York or Chicago, everyone does not care. And if you go to a small town, you can hear a couple of comments about yourself.

In general, I believe that politics is a game for rich and powerful. I do not notice that she somehow strongly influenced my life in Russia. I am not an active participant in all this “new Cold War” between the countries, although I’m joking that I am an American spy in Russia and the Russian spy in the USA. I think that it is very convenient and easy for people in America that Putin is a real face of Russia, and Russians think the same thing about Trump; But in ordinary life, both Americans and Russians are not so different.

I'm not going to leave St. Petersburg to the United States because of politics or sanctions. I really like how Russians relate to life: you have found a very interesting approach to forces that you cannot control; Almost proud of suffering. And how do you feel about the weather! In the coldest part of the year you do not complain, but just jump into cold water to swim! Separately, I really love St. Petersburg. Once I talked with the homeless about the works of Tolstoy - where else could this happen?

There are things that I do not like. Language barrier; It infuriates that the streets are not always clean. I always throw a cigarette or a can of beer into the urn-why can't the rest do the same? Well, the Russian bureaucracy. There are problems with this in the USA, but there we at least use computers, not paper documents.

Pavel Merzlikin recorded