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One of the reasons I’m happy I’m not in Russia.
You don’t understand, don’t realize how beautiful Moscow is in the summer. My last summer in Moscow was the summer of 2013. We left in August of that year and never returned, never looked back. But Moscow was beautiful that summer. And in the summer of 2012, and the year before that, and always. It was beautiful in the summer of 1999. I was walking with my childhood friend on Poklonnaya Gora when I met a girl, who I’ve now been together with for 23 years.
It’s been almost a decade since I left Moscow and I hear from my friends and relatives that the city has become even more beautiful, more luxurious. I don’t miss Moscow but I believe them. It doesn’t matter whether you’re pro-Putin or anti, Moscow is a great city. It’s shiny. It’s ever vibrant. It’s eclectic. It continues to evolve.
It truly never sleeps! I lived in London. London does go to sleep. Moscow never sleeps.
Some 17 years ago I detoured from my dynamic career in Russia. I could have it all — I was working for an American investment bank and I was in Russia, my home country. I was in Moscow, my home city. But I went to the US to do an MBA. Many of my ex-colleagues went on to work for Russia’s state companies. They made fortunes.
