Peputo in Moscow. Best wishes! My first day in Moscow in 3 years, post-Covid, has been nothing short of epic. The immigration lady at Vnukovo smiled when I said "journalist". Changed euros into rubles with the girl that sold me a Megafon SIM card. No Metropol suite this time - like in 2000, covering Putin's election: a funky micro studio side by side with a Thai massage parlor (I can't stay away from Thailand too long). Went for a blitzkrieg walk in the snow for 5 hours, with selected stops, including my fav cappuccino at Coffee Mania, across the street from the FSB. Meeting amazing people all the way, including a Georgian-Ukrainian lounge singer hailing from...Donetsk. Stopped to pay my respects to the heroes of 1941-1945. Life is absolutely normal. Minimal inflation. Much lower than Istanbul, and lower than Paris. Supermarkets and delis are overflowing with everything. Business starts tomorrow, writing and meetings with friends, then Valdai on Tuesday. Everything from Istanbul to Moscow was cool, smooth and very civilized. Eurasia rolls on. The West barely registers as - annoying - background noise. And the capital of the 21st century is HERE.