Engage or escape? Anti-government young Russians face dilemma (2023) (C) France 24 / AFP
Still reeling from the Kremlin’s decision to send troops to Ukraine, Masha Yanchevskaya is one of many young Russians torn between trying to “heal” society or seclude themselves from it. In the first days of the conflict, the 21-year-old budding film director remembers riding the Moscow metro and looking at passengers to interpret their emotions. “I looked into the eyes of a young guy and we both cried without saying a thing,” she remembers.