How do Russians see their future? I asked them on the streets of Moscow.

SUMMARY

BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg interviews Muscovites on their 2026 hopes and five-year visions amid war, revealing widespread desires for peace, stability, and an end to uncertainty.

STATEMENTS

• Russians express a primary hope for peace and the end of the ongoing war, emphasizing that the main concern is avoiding further conflict.
• Many responses hinge on Vladimir Putin's mood and decisions, indicating a perception that national future depends heavily on his whims.
• Interviewees describe a return to pre-war normalcy as ideal, with wishes for prosperity, happiness, and harmonious living without violence.
• Economic instability, including rising prices, low pensions, and job market difficulties, dominates personal worries and limits long-term planning.
• There's a sense of resignation and short-term focus, with people planning only month-to-month and not daring to look five years ahead.
• The absence of "victory" in responses contrasts with official narratives, highlighting war fatigue and a collective yearning for peace instead.
• Soviet-era stability is nostalgically recalled, contrasting sharply with current unpredictability driven by war and economic downturns.
• Family influences, like a grandmother's wartime toast against war, underscore generational lessons on the value of peace.
• Negotiation and mutual respect among people are seen as essential for achieving lasting peace, whether in personal or international contexts.
• Daily realities, such as visiting cemeteries to see growing numbers of war casualties, reinforce the human cost and desire for no escalation.

IDEAS

• Russians' futures seem tethered to one man's unpredictable temperament, revealing a centralized power structure that stifles personal agency.
• War has inverted optimism into survival mode, where managing "10 days" feels ambitious amid pervasive uncertainty.
• A grandmother's simple toast—"the main thing is no war"—gains profound relevance, bridging generational trauma from WWII to today's conflicts.
• Official media proclaims prosperity, yet alternative sources predict doom starting 2026, exposing a chasm in information and trust.
• Economic survival now means scrutinizing prices that were once ignored, symbolizing a broader loss of financial security.
• Peace requires active listening and negotiation, not just absence of fighting, suggesting interpersonal skills as a microcosm for global resolution.
• Pensions barely cover basics, leaving scraps for life, which illustrates how macroeconomic policies erode individual dignity.
• Cemetery visits reveal the war's toll through visual accumulation of graves, turning abstract conflict into tangible grief.
• Nostalgia for Soviet stability highlights how perceived predictability, even under authoritarianism, trumps current chaos.
• The word "peace" supplants "victory" in public sentiment, indicating exhaustion with militarism and a shift toward human-centered aspirations.

INSIGHTS

• Centralized leadership fosters fatalism, where citizens view their prospects as extensions of a single leader's caprice rather than collective effort.
• Prolonged conflict breeds hyper-focus on immediate survival, diminishing capacity for visionary planning and perpetuating a cycle of short-termism.
• Generational wisdom from past wars underscores peace as the ultimate value, revealing how historical trauma amplifies current anti-war sentiments.
• Divergent information sources deepen societal divides, eroding trust in official narratives and amplifying fears of impending hardship.
• Economic precarity transforms daily routines into calculated hardships, illustrating how war's ripple effects dismantle the social safety net.

QUOTES

• “That depends on Vladimir Putin. On what mood he’ll be in.”
• “Five years from now? If I can manage 10 days that's good.”
• “The main thing is that there is no war.”
• “We look at prices in stores now. Before, I didn't look at prices.”
• “Victory was the word of the year... but when I asked people, it wasn't victory I heard. It was peace, time and again.”

HABITS

• Planning finances and life only month-to-month, up to the next pension, to avoid disappointment from uncertainty.
• Weekly cemetery visits to honor the deceased, confronting the war's ongoing impact through personal ritual.
• Scrutinizing store prices meticulously before purchases, a shift from carefree shopping to budget vigilance.
• Raising toasts against war at gatherings, drawing from family traditions to invoke peace.
• Seeking job changes amid market woes, actively navigating economic instability through professional adaptation.

FACTS

• Pensions in Russia hover around 30,000 rubles monthly, often leaving just 20,000 rubles after utilities for basic living needs.
• The Pushkin Institute named "victory" the most popular word of 2025, tied to the 80th anniversary of defeating Nazi Germany.
• Official Russian media portrays economic stability, while alternative sources forecast severe downturns beginning in 2026.
• Soviet-era life is remembered for its stability, contrasting with current inflation, low wages, and war-driven unpredictability.
• Moscow cemeteries feature dedicated alleys for mobilized soldiers, visibly expanding weekly due to the Ukraine conflict.

REFERENCES

• Pushkin Institute's word-of-the-year selection for 2025.
• 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
• BBC journalism by Steve Rosenberg on Russian street interviews.
• Alternative internet and media sources contradicting state television narratives.
• Great Patriotic War (WWII) experiences shared through family stories.

HOW TO APPLY

• Prioritize peace in personal interactions by practicing active listening and respect to build mutual understanding daily.
• Foster short-term resilience by planning finances month-to-month, tracking expenses to maintain stability amid uncertainty.
• Draw on family histories of conflict to cultivate anti-war values, sharing stories to emphasize the human cost of violence.
• Challenge official narratives by cross-referencing multiple information sources, enhancing critical thinking about current events.
• Advocate for economic security by supporting policies that ensure adequate pensions and job markets, starting with community discussions.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Russians yearn for peace over victory, revealing war fatigue and a desperate grasp for basic stability in uncertain times.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Engage in dialogue across divides to promote negotiation skills that could scale from personal to geopolitical levels.
• Build financial buffers against inflation by adopting price-conscious shopping and minimalistic living habits.
• Limit long-term planning to manageable horizons, focusing energy on daily survivability to reduce anxiety.
• Amplify voices calling for peace in media and conversations, countering militaristic rhetoric with human stories.
• Support mental health through rituals like family toasts or reflections on history to process collective trauma.

MEMO

In the crisp winter air of Moscow, BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg wandered the streets, microphone in hand, capturing the subdued hopes of ordinary Russians as they gazed toward 2026. Amid holiday lights and bundled crowds, responses poured out like a collective sigh: peace above all. One woman, echoing her grandmother's wartime toast, insisted, "The main thing is no war," a refrain born from the scars of the Great Patriotic War now reopened by the conflict in Ukraine. Others tied their futures explicitly to President Vladimir Putin, wondering aloud about his "mood" and fearing fresh escalations, underscoring a nation where personal dreams hinge on a single leader's caprice.

Economic woes amplified the gloom, with pensioners lamenting stipends barely covering utilities—30,000 rubles a month leaving scraps for bread, if not caviar. A retiree, born in the Soviet era, contrasted today's volatility with that time's perceived stability, her gaze fixed on the next paycheck rather than five years hence. Job seekers fretted over a shrinking market and impending 2026 downturns whispered in unofficial sources, while one man quipped about swapping a difficult colleague as his boldest ambition. The war's shadow loomed in personal tales, like weekly cemetery pilgrimages to alleys swelling with graves of the mobilized, turning abstract policy into visceral loss.

Yet, amid resignation, glimmers of wisdom emerged. Peace, they said, demands love, respect, and listening—lessons for cafes or conference tables alike. Notably absent was the official buzzword "victory," crowned 2025's top term by the Pushkin Institute for its ties to WWII's 80th anniversary and Ukraine ambitions. Instead, fatigue after nearly three years of conflict surfaced in pleas for normalcy, a return to pre-war lives where prices weren't obsessively checked and horizons stretched beyond 10 days. Rosenberg observed this shift as a quiet rebellion, a populace prioritizing human flourishing over martial triumphs in a year poised for more trials.