James C. Pearce, Jeremy Morris and Jonny Tickle test Moscow’s reputation for effortless daily life: world-class metro and buses, expanding lines, e-governance, safety, and abundant parks and culture. They weigh the trade-offs since 2022, including curtailed travel, payment card problems, rising costs, and widening inequality, and dig into housing bubbles, micro-district legacies, and the split between old and new Muscovites. The conversation also looks beyond the capitals to ask what liveability means across Russia in 2025. This podcast is an independent project and does not represent the views of our employers or affiliated institutions.