Life in Russia under sanctions may parallel what one reporter found in Iran

Credit: Redakstia

Life in Russia under sanctions may parallel what one reporter found in Iran

April 11th 2022

The question stands whether sanctions are truly worth the sacrifice

Russians are proud people. So are Iranians. That’s not all they have in common.

Theirs are the two most sanctioned countries in the world. Russia has just pushed past the Islamic Republic into first place. When Russia first launched its war in Ukraine, many Russians said they feared they would soon join the ranks of Iran and North Korea. So, Russian journalist Alexei Pivovarov traveled to Tehran to learn what life is like in a rogue state. His dispatch on YouTube got over 4 million views.

“Hi, friends,” he said in the opening sequence. “We’re in Tehran, the capital of Iran. I think you understand why we’re here.”

Pivovarov and his camera crew moved through the streets of the city, visiting outdoor markets, indoor markets, talking to people. He said he learned one could pretty much find anything desperately needed, but explained much of it probably took a circuitous trip to get to Iran. For luxury goods not available in stores, Iranians with means but no visas to travel abroad employ designated “buyers” who have filled suitcases with special orders on trips abroad.

Pivovarov discovered that even though Iran managed to acquire some new desperately needed airplanes in that little window of sanctions reprieve after the Iran nuclear deal was signed but before former President Trump pulled out of it, the county won’t be able to get them serviced now that things have slid backwards. So, Iran has resorted to a sort of aviation organ donor system: When one plane gets taken out of service, whatever parts remain viable are used for the next plane in need.

Pivovarov talked to TASS’ man in Tehran, Nikita Smagin, who said sanctions made Iran start refining its own gasoline, something ironically it hadn’t done much before and apparently doesn’t do well.

“A very big smog appeared over Tehran,” he told Pivovarov. “That’s because the gasoline is of very bad quality, and this is one of the big environmental problems in Iran.”