Secret service everywhere?

“Everyday life in Russia is full of informers”

krone.at editor and Russia expert Angelika Eliseeva on everyday life in Russia.(Bild: krone.tv)

One day before the start of the Russian presidential election, krone.at editor and Russia expert Angelika Eliseeva, who herself lived and worked in Moscow for over four years, takes a look at the reality of everyday life in Russia: "Life has its pitfalls and it's much harder than you can imagine here. Shopping, the apartment, you need a lot more energy for that. And it's much more dangerous."

Eliseeva: "There's always this political aspect in the background, where you can feel that it's actually pressing down on your private life from above. You know somewhere along the line that if you get involved with the wrong people, your relatively nice life could be over." There is denunciation in everyday life and you don't know who in the people is from the Russian domestic secret service FSB because it is well networked.

She herself had been asked by foreign Russians on the street how she felt about Crimea and then asked herself, with what aim and with what intention am I being questioned? The editor describes this situation as follows: "Hello, how are you? Can I perhaps offer you my seat on the streetcar? And then it turns relatively quickly to yes, what do you think about Crimea? And the Ukrainians are evil." She also has a good acquaintance who is also Austrian and worked in Moscow, who has had similar experiences.

Angelika Eliseeva lived in Russia for years.(Bild: krone.tv)

When asked whether she was personally afraid in Russia, she says: "Not from a political point of view. I didn't always feel safe in my life, in my integrity." There were several bomb alarms, she says, and she was often evacuated from a shopping center or from work, where she was suddenly told there was a bomb in the basement. You have to live with that.

"Zombifying people"
In conclusion: "I tried to watch as little state television as possible, because the Russians have a very good term for it: they call brainwashing "zombifying people". And they always said, don't watch TV or you'll become a zombie."

Watch the whole interview above!