August 20, 2023

From Battle to Business


From Battle to Business
Hustling for that ever-less-valuable ruble. The Russian Life files

Russian state media reports that business is booming in what was once the front lines of Russia's War on Ukraine.

According to Izvestia, citing Russia's Federal Tax Service, over 2,200 "legal" business entities have been registered in the regions of Zaporozhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson. Taking into account entrepreneurs and smaller companies, the number swells to 110,000. At the same time, only 26 firms have closed in the area.

The Izvestia article refers to the region as Russia's "new territories," and parrots the Tax Service's language by calling it the "southwestern region."

Of course, this obscures the actual history of this area. In 2013, Donetsk and Luhansk, supported by the Russian state, broke away from Ukraine. Zaporozhia and Kherson were both occupied at the start of Russia's invasion last year.

As such, the statistics should probably be taken with a grain of salt: when you start at zero, any increase is bound to be massive.

You Might Also Like

Russian News Has Gotten Wacky
  • September 03, 2022

Russian News Has Gotten Wacky

Since the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian press has gone off the rails. Here's what they're saying.
Azov, a New Terror?
  • August 12, 2022

Azov, a New Terror?

While resisting Russian forces in the invasion of Ukraine, the Azov Regiment has been declared a terrorist organization by the Russian Supreme Court. 
Russia Forever?
  • May 31, 2022

Russia Forever?

A Russian rock musician was filmed helping Russian soldiers replace a Ukrainian road sign with one reading "Russia Forever."
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955