The BBC's Russian editor Steve Rosenberg asked some Russians today why they were attending a pro-war rally in Moscow. Many of them were reluctant to answer. Not Vera though. She was very forthcoming. “I’d be much happier if my son got wounded fighting in Ukraine than die of alcoholism here,” said Vera. Who knows, perhaps she longs for a new Lada.

In Russia, the life expectancy for men is only 66 years of age.