The present absent war: how Russians experience the war with Ukraine at different proximities to the frontline

This paper examines how Russians experience the war in Ukraine in their everyday lives across varying distances from the frontline. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted by the Public Sociology Laboratory in 2023–2024, it compares two sites: Cheryomushkin, a small town in the Urals far from the conflict, and Kursk, a region in close proximity to active combat, where fieldwork was carried out while parts of the area were under Ukrainian occupation.

A publication by Yakov Lurie

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