When I retired from the military, my wife and I lived on and off in Sochi for 2 years, where here family is from. Sochi is nice. It's actually the only tropical part of Russia at the very southern tip and had palm trees on the Black Sea, then when leaving the city proper, it's a straight climb into the Caucasus Mountain's. It's probably the least pro-Putin city in Russia regarding popularity.

The problem though and why we didn't retire there. Their social policies are insane. The police will literally target and immigrant, just absolutely follow him or her and make them show their papers, etc. LGBTQ people are absolutely hated and they are stupid in their isolationist policies. They are big on exports of their gas/oil/coal, but absolutely refuse to diversify their economy and limit imports to only essentials. I find it comical how Putin said he was going to DeNazify Ukraine when Anti-Semitism is growing in Russia. It has grown dramatically in the last 10 years. My wife can testify to this as she is Jewish, and they have cracked down dramatically on any form of Christianity or any other faith like the Jewish faith outside of Orthodox Christianity. If you are Orthodox, you are fine. If not, you can have issues Jews, Mormons, etc, rough! Mormon missionaries have largely pulled out of Russia due to the recent law where "open phophetizing" of religion is illegal. Of course, if you are Russian Orthodox and hold up religious items or literature in the streets, you are fine. Totally allowed.

For these reasons, we decided to Not retire there. I think, in my opinion only, Putin is more popular there for his economic policies than his social policies. From where Russia was in the 90s, there is no question as to what he has done for the Russian economy, but that's about it in my opinion. Of course, any economic gains he made in the last 20 years are totally destroyed at his own doing now.


[Post edited by hokiepokie4321 at 03/06/2022 7:25PM]