From gopnik memes and macho stereotypes to doting dads and burnt-out office workers, what is life really like for Russian men in 2025? In this episode of Russia Unfiltered, James C Pearce, Jeremy Morris and Jonny Tickle dig into masculinity in Russia: the Soviet legacy of the “model worker,” the 1990s hangover, and how the internet has made twenty–something Russians feel closer to their peers in London than to their own fathers.

They talk about army service and the myth that all “real men” are soldiers, why suicide and alcoholism rates among men remain so high, and how expectations to provide clash with housing shortages, low wages and unstable work. The conversation covers dating, family life, male friendships, “infantilised” husbands, ambitious women in high–status jobs, and the quiet ways younger men are renegotiating what it means to be a man in Russia today.

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