Paul Goble
Staunton, Nov. 14 – It is a measure of Russian fear that the war in Ukraine will cross over the border and affect them that Russians living in regions along the Ukrainian border are seeking to sell their residences at far greater rates than in the rest of the country and that Russians there and elsewhere are seeking to build bomb shelters.
Since the start of the year, residents of Belgorod and Kursk oblasts have boosted the number of apartments listed for sale by 38 percent and those of private homes by 48 percent compared to an all-Russian rise in such listings by 16-17 percent (forum-msk.org/material/news/18089336.html).
Interest in bomb shelters has increased by orders of magnitude since the start of the war and especially since Vladimir Putin issued his partial mobilization order in September. The greatest increase has been in the regions adjoining Ukraine, but demand elsewhere including in Moscow has risen dramatically as well (realty.rbc.ru/news/636d08e49a7947a9efaa24a2).
So far, the high cost of such structures has limited actual construction; but it has prompted ever more Russians to demand that the government either open access to existing bomb shelters or build more in case there is a need, RBC reports.
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