Rats, Rubbish and Ruin: From Novosibirsk to Murmansk, Russian Misery Laid Bare

(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) – Footage depicting squalid living conditions across multiple Russian regions has emerged, challenging Kremlin narratives about national prosperity. The compilation, released by independent observers, shows scenes ranging from mountains of uncollected rubbish in Moscow to families navigating flooded apartment blocks on wooden pallets.

In Novosibirsk, a video shows a baby being pushed in a pram past enormous rats scurrying over piles of refuse. Commenting on the footage, the compiler noted the infant appeared similar in age to his own daughter. “This baby I would think deserves better because it is a baby. It hasn’t done anything wrong,” he said. “And this is where it has to grow up. It’s mountains of trash. Basically living in a garbage pile.” He added that the rodents were “rats that can actually eat your baby.”

Scenes from Moscow, the nation’s wealthiest city, reveal systemic waste management failures. Despite apartment owners paying communal charges to private contractors, rubbish is simply abandoned between residential blocks. “The companies just don’t empty the trash. They take the money from these apartment buildings from the communals and they just leave the trash here and they perhaps buy a new S-class smuggled into Russia through Kazakhstan,” the narration states. Newly built high-rise developments, marketed to young families seeking to escape Soviet era panel housing, are shown surrounded by “trash slurry smoothie” where children play.

Footage from Chukotka documents a communal entrance hall where stray dogs roam freely through shared living spaces. “This is not like one apartment. This is communal way of living. And there is so much of this in Russia still. Communal pets, communal couches, communal kitchens. Nothing is yours. You have no private space. So there is no point in really cleaning or taking care of anything since everything is everybody’s,” the commentary explains.

In Almetyevsk, Tatarstan, a naked man was filmed clinging to a window and screaming, an incident described not as exceptional but as “normaly.” The narrator states, “Somebody gets too drunk or too drugged, people die on the streets, nobody cleans them up, and this is what your children see.”

Separate footage from Belgorod shows local men torturing a stray dog. One man drags the animal by the tail and passes it to another individual reportedly known for abusing animals. “These men were children at some point who ran around between trash mountains seeing rats, seeing abandonment, seeing alcoholism. And this is where they developed their mysterious Russian souls,” the video commentary states.

In Ivano town, a naked man armed with a knife was filmed slashing at the air in a residential parking area while women walked past and children played nearby. “Little Timmy wants to go outside. Goes outside. Meets this drug lord without pants and a knife,” the narration describes.

Motorists in Novosibirsk reported navigating impassable roads despite municipal authorities receiving substantial funding for snow clearance services. One resident recorded her vehicle stranded in deep snow, stating, “Thank God. There were people nearby who helped me and pulled me out with a rope. But here, well, just near my house. Look, this is just I don’t know how to drive here.”

In Murmansk, footage from April 2026 shows children playing on a merry go round surrounded by mud and refuse. “Timmy goes outside into this mud and trash smoothie and goes with the merry go round to develop the mysterious Russian soul,” the video states. Soviet era apartment blocks remain unrenovated, with water pooling in ground floor flats during spring and autumn. Residents navigate their homes on wooden pallets to avoid standing water. “You get in, your feet are fully wet, and this is how you live decade by decade. This is your life.”

The compilation concludes with residents of a village in Bashkortostan who wrote to the Pope in desperation after a decade of unfulfilled road repair promises from local authorities. A resident displays a formal letter addressed to “his holiness the pope Francis Apost Vatican City,” stating they were “tired of the promises made by the head of the district.” The footage shows children standing beside impassable muddy roads. “They grow up with that. They grow up seeing that no government cares about them. They got to write to the pope and the pope cannot do nothing. Nobody can.”

The video was released by independent commentator Artur Rehi.