Russia's year of war: Purge of critics, surge of nationalism

The painful, bruising changes to Russian life require more effort to see

Moscow's nights display few signs of a nation at war.

Cheerful crowds packed restaurants and bars in the Sretenka neighborhood on a recent Saturday night, watched by officers marked as "tourist police." Nearby, a top-hatted guide led about 40 sightseers to a 300-year-old church.

There's only an occasional "Z" - the symbol of Russia's "special military operation," as the Ukraine invasion is officially known - seen on a building or a shuttered store abandoned by a Western retailer. A poster of a stern-faced soldier, with the slogan "Glory to the heroes of Russia," is a reminder the conflict has dragged on for a year.

Western stores are gone, but customers can still buy their products or knockoffs sold under a Russian name or branding.

The painful, bruising changes to Russian life require more effort to see.

Abroad government crackdown has silenced dissent, with political opponents imprisoned or fleeing abroad. Families have been torn apart by the first mobilization of reservists since World War II.

State TV spews hatred against the West and reassuring messages that much of the world still is with Russia.

And Russia's battlefield deaths are in the thousands.