December 11, 2023

What Russians Actually Think


What Russians Actually Think
A man on the Russian street is hit with a question. YouTube, "1420 by Daniil Orain."

With all the swirling misinformation and storms of conflicting reports fluttering out of Russia these days, it's hard to parse what's real and what's not. Fortunately, for a more grounded approach, there's 1420 by Daniil Orain.

1420 is a YouTube channel that focuses on street interviews with real-life, everyday Russians. The host asks questions — sometimes difficult, usually open-ended — to see what passersby think about current affairs, history, and modern life in Russia.

Topics range from nostalgia for the USSR to propaganda old and new to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. If you've been educated in the West, or haven't spent much time asking Russians' opinions, you may be surprised by some answers.

Perhaps 1420's greatest strength is that its interviewees are diverse: young and old, highly educated and not, urban and rural. Although most videos appear to be filmed in Moscow, question responses can be all over the map.

For anyone curious about what the everyday Russian thinks, as the country grows more isolated in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, 1420 is an invaluable resource.

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.
The Wrong Kind of Patriotism
  • November 30, 2022

The Wrong Kind of Patriotism

A student in Karelia was reportedly disciplined for wearing a sweatshirt with an American flag on it.
Patriotism Ed
  • September 20, 2022

Patriotism Ed

New classes are popping up in Russian schools to discuss the invasion of Ukraine.
A Flag that Rocks
  • August 27, 2022

A Flag that Rocks

The governor of Samara Oblast enlisted the help of students to create a 200-foot-long Russian tricolor out of painted stones for Russian Flag Day.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals
[INVALID]
[INVALID]

Some of our Books

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

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.

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