Moscow is awash with tinsel and lights but ‘Christmas as usual’ is just an illusion | Steve Rosenberg

Festive tunes may be ringing out but Russians will pay more for their traditional feast and only pop stars loyal to Putin are on TV

Down at my local Moscow supermarket, western Christmas carols and songs are playing on a loop. This year Ding Dong Merrily on High and All I Want for Christmas Is You sound curiously out of place. That’s because from morning till night Russian TV channels have been telling the public that the west is out to destroy their country, that leaders in the west (not in the Kremlin) are to blame for the war in Ukraine, and that Russian values are more “spiritual” than western ones.

At least they still like our music. As I push my trolley down the bread aisle, Abba’s Happy New Year strikes up, sung in Russian. In Russia it’s new year, rather than Orthodox Christmas (7 January), that is the main national holiday.

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