The Real Russia. Today. What it’s really like living on the streets in Russia

Thursday, April 1, 2021 (Meduza’s newsletter will return on Monday, April 5, 2021.)

• Meduza correspondent Irina Kravtsova asks Russia’s homeless population what it’s really like living on the street
• Russian military exercises near Ukraine’s borders provoke concern from Kyiv and Washington as tensions escalate in Donbas
• News briefs: Updates on Navalny’s hunger strike, Moscow prosecutors go after the FBK, and prison monitors refuse to visit a Navalny aide’s 66-year-old father in jail

Feature stories

🌃 ‘It’s like I drew a door and disappeared through it’

Homeless people in Russia have their own terms for things — people who aren’t homeless are “domestic” people, while they themselves are “street” people, or simply “bums.” Meduza’s special correspondent Irina Kravtsova spent several days with homeless people in St. Petersburg, asking them the most obvious questions “domestic” people usually have: Why can’t they just update their documents, get a job, and rent a place to live? According to Igor Antonov, who’s worked with homeless people for years, questions like these underestimate the extent to which life on the street can transform a person. When it comes down to it, returning to a “normal life” is easier said than done.

🪖 ‘Potential imminent crisis’

The war in eastern Ukraine, which is now in its seventh year, saw its deadliest incident of 2021 last Friday when four Ukrainian servicemen were killed. This latest escalation comes amid a gradual erosion of the ceasefire that’s been in place since last July. Both Kyiv and Moscow have acknowledged that tensions are on the rise in the region, though the Kremlin continues to shift any and all blame on to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Kyiv and Washington’s top brass are sounding the alarm over the apparent build up of Russian troops along Ukraine’s borders. Moscow maintains that these are routine military movements that “should not concern anyone.”

News briefs

• 🤐 Kremlin spokesman declines to comment on Navalny’s hunger strike (Peskov says it “isn’t an issue on the agenda of the head of state in any way”)
• 🚨Prison monitors refuse to visit jailed father of top Navalny aide (The head of the local public monitoring commission said Yuri Zhdanov is “not some star” worthy of a seperate visit)
• 🆘 Alexey Navalny lost eight kilograms in prison before his hunger strike began (While Navalny’s been denied a check-up from his doctor, RT’s Maria Butina was able to visit him in prison)
• 🔍 Moscow prosecutors launch inquiry into Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation for ‘extremist activity’ (The prosecutors have asked for information on the non-profit’s structure, members, and finances)

🚀 Tomorrow in history: 57 years ago tomorrow, on April 2, 1964, the Soviet Union launched its Zond 1 spacecraft, which was intended to explore Venus. Due to technical malfunctions, communication with the spacecraft was lost in mid-May. Zond 1 flew by Venus on July 19, 1964.