The city of Saratov, the capital of the Saratov region in southern Russia, is more than 800 kilometres from any fighting, but its inhabitants are still impacted by Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine a year ago.
Economic sanctions imposed by the West and the partial mobilisation of the country’s reservists in September 2022 have added to people’s problems – particularly those living on the breadline and the chronically ill. Many in the city have had to say goodbye to their husbands, sons and brothers, who’ve been sent to fight.
openDemocracy spoke to five people in Saratov whose lives have been changed by their country’s invasion of Ukraine.
