Since my last scheduled trip to Moscow was diverted to Armenia, I decided to catch up on my Moscow plans. Adjusting to the current travel restrictions, I flew from Germany into Tallinn via Riga, took a bus to St. Petersburg, and continued by the Sapsan high-speed train.
For those of you who might be wondering what life looks like in Moscow at the moment, it appeared perfectly normal to me. Prices have risen slightly, but everything is available. Russian investors have mainly acquired the assets of Western companies which have left Russia, and where possible, they continue the operation. That’s, of course a little easier with McDonald’s, Zara, or IKEA than with a car factory. And, of course, stronger effects will be seen after stockpiles of components are depleted, and it is more difficult to replenish them. Still, my guess is that Russia will be able to get more independent from Western sources, the same way as Europe will manage to get more independent from Russian commodities. Whether this will make the world a better place or shorten the conflict in Ukraine, I doubt.
A highlight of my visit to Moscow was the Morosow-Exhibition in the Pushkin Museum. It is astonishing how the art collector Iwan Abramowitsch Morosow had a very good hand at picking artworks and artists that were back then but not broadly popular yet. This includes 18 paintings by Paul Cézanne. By the Russian Revolution, his collection stopped inevitably, and he left Russia. The artworks were nationalised and split between Moscow and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. So, it was a rare opportunity to see all the collections in one venue before being divided to their host museums again. The show was returned from previously being presented in Paris. And, of course, there were some hick-ups on the French side, whether it could be returned to Russia in the context of current sanctions. Luckily, it did.
One unfortunate incident was that I may have caught COVID-19 in the museum. I just before added SPUTNIK V to my broad collection of vaccinations, and a few hours after visiting the exhibition, I felt exhausted. So, I blamed it on potential side effects, or even the heat, while strolling over the Red Square later, having ice cream from the Gum. But it turned out to be COVID. Never mind, it was not very bad, and symptoms disappeared completely, even before the first negative test result cleared me off restrictions.