For Oleg Kechin, owner of a chain of barbershops, forecasts that Russia will be plunged into its deepest economic crisis in a generation feel overdone.
U.S. President Joe Biden may have promised that Western sanctions would wreak economic havoc in Russia, but Kechin's business is still drawing in customers in the town of Saransk, which lies 510 kilometers (320 miles) southeast of Moscow.
"There's no deep crisis. In general, everything's fine," he said. "Everyone's talking about a decrease in purchasing power, but I haven't noticed it."