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Beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg, everyday life in Russia looks far less stable than the official image suggests. Elvira Bary follows local Telegram channels, VKontakte groups, neighborhood chats, and city communities in eight very different regions to show what people actually talk about when they are not making a political statement: drone alerts, gasoline shortages, failing infrastructure, rising prices, strained regional budgets, and a shrinking sense of the future.

Using city-by-city examples from places like Krasnodar, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Norilsk, Makhachkala, and Vladivostok, the episode traces how the war has reached ordinary routines. It is part documentary analysis, part Russia current affairs commentary, and part social and economic portrait of life outside the Kremlin bubble. For anyone interested in Russian regions, wartime society, regional news, infrastructure collapse, fuel shortages, and the hidden cost of war, this is a sharp look at Russia from below.

Created for viewers and listeners searching for Russia documentary, Russian regional life, life outside Moscow, war in Russia, current affairs analysis, and political commentary on everyday life. It also fits searches for Russian economy, drone attacks, gasoline shortages, and post-Soviet society, with a focus on how local online communities reveal what the state’s official image leaves out.

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Transcript
00:00Russia is becoming harder to see from the outside.
00:04Independent websites are blocked.
00:07People can be prosecuted for saying the wrong thing about the war.
00:11That leaves foreigners with official media
00:15and their heavily censored picture of the country.
00:19In that picture, Russia is remarkably stable.
00:23Moscow restaurants are full, new apartment towers go up,
00:27people shop, travel, work and carry on with their lives.
00:31In parts of Moscow and St. Petersburg,
00:34everyday life can genuinely look almost normal.
00:37But most Russians do not live there.
00:40So what does life actually look like in the cities far from the Kremlin,
00:45in places dealing with drone alerts, fuel shortages,
00:50crumbling infrastructure, high prices and an economy increasingly distorted by war?
00:56Some places still talk about these things surprisingly openly.
01:01Local city chats, neighborhood groups, telegram channels and Vkontakte communities.
01:07People may avoid politics, but they still complain where the water disappears,
01:13when gasoline runs out, when prices jump,
01:18when drones arrive or when they can no longer find a decent job.
01:23And taken together, those ordinary conversations give us a very different picture of Russia.
01:30I am Elvira Barry, a writer born in the Soviet Union.
01:34Today, we will look inside online communities in 8 Russian cities
01:39to see what everyday life really looks like outside Moscow
01:43and how 4 years of war have changed the regions.
01:47Here is our roadmap, where Russia still talks,
01:51why city chats matter,
01:53the quiet anxiety,
01:54how the future feels now,
01:57the war comes home,
01:59how drones become an everyday fear,
02:02where is all the gas,
02:04the spreading fuel shortage,
02:07cities at the breaking point,
02:09why city infrastructure is crumbling,
02:11the war bill,
02:13how families pay for Putin's war at the grocery counter,
02:17the illusion of growth,
02:19what happens to jobs and business behind the statistics.
02:23This channel is possible because of you,
02:25the people who watch, listen, question assumptions,
02:29connect the dots and try to make sense of a world
02:32that often seems increasingly difficult to understand.
02:35That is the audience I want to create for.
02:39And I am deeply grateful that you are here.
02:42If you find this work valuable,
02:44please like the video,
02:46subscribe and share it with someone who might enjoy it.
02:49You can also support this channel by joining my think tank,
02:52contributing through PayPal or SuperFanks
02:55or using your hype points to help this episode reach a wider audience.
03:00And one more thing.
03:01I've recently been writing memoirs about my youth
03:04in the late Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia
03:07and publishing them on Facebook.
03:09To my surprise,
03:11people seem to be having a great deal of fun with them
03:14and keep asking me to write more.
03:17So if you know me mostly as the rather serious woman
03:20who talks about Russian wars, dictatorships, corruption
03:23and political psychology,
03:25and you'd like to meet a somewhat different version of me,
03:29follow me on Facebook.
03:31There are plenty of stories there
03:32that are far too funny and charming
03:34to ever make it onto this channel.
03:38And if you are listening on Spotify,
03:40please follow the show
03:41so new episodes appear automatically in your feed.
03:45Thank you for being here.
03:46Let's begin.
03:48Where Russia Still Talks
03:52To understand everyday Russia,
03:55I would start with online communities.
03:58City chats, neighborhood groups,
04:01local telegram channels and Vkontakte threads
04:03are useful for one simple reason.
04:06These are where people bring their problems.
04:09A lawsuit takes time and money.
04:12A formal complaint will likely disappear into bureaucracy.
04:16But a post with a photograph can spread
04:19through a neighborhood in minutes.
04:22Other residents add their own examples.
04:25A local journalist sees it.
04:27Then an official sees it.
04:29In fact, Russian authorities have built an entire system
04:33around this behavior.
04:34It is called incident management.
04:37It's algorithms monitor social networks
04:40for posts and comments about everyday problems
04:42and send them to the relevant government agency.
04:46The message does not even have to be addressed to an official.
04:50According to the organization running the system,
04:53it processes more than half a million public complaints
04:56and questions every month.
04:58That tells us something important.
05:00Social media publicity works often enough
05:03that both citizens and the state have adapted to it.
05:07That is the kind of material we are going to follow.
05:11I deliberately chose cities
05:13that show very different parts of Russia.
05:16Vladivostok is the country's Great Pacific port
05:19and eastern outpost.
05:21Yekaterinburg is the industrial center of the Urals.
05:26Krasnodar is the capital
05:27of a large agricultural region in the south.
05:31Nizhny Novgorod is a major historical trade
05:34and industry center on the Volga and my home.
05:38Mahajkala is the capital of Dagestan
05:40on the Caspian Sea.
05:43I have a dedicated video about how Dagestan
05:46and other Caucasus republics are special
05:49and what sets them apart from the rest of Russia.
05:52Check it out.
05:53Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave
05:55separated from the rest of the country
05:57by EU territory.
06:00Narensk is an Arctic mining city
06:03built around metals.
06:04Ufa is the capital of Peshkartistan
06:08and one of Russia's major oil refining centers.
06:11There is one more thing we have to remember.
06:15These chats do not tell us
06:17what all Russians think.
06:19They are not opinion polls.
06:21The people who write are self-selected
06:24and moderation can shape what remains visible.
06:27And they are topics that people have strong reasons
06:31not to discuss openly.
06:33The Kremlin still prosecutes anti-war speech
06:36and tightly monitors online expression.
06:39So silence about politics
06:41does not necessarily mean indifference
06:44or support of Putin's policy.
06:46I am looking for something different here.
06:49What keeps surfacing
06:51even when nobody is trying to make a political statement?
06:54What problem becomes so immediate
06:57that people cannot avoid talking about it?
07:01The quiet anxiety.
07:05The strongest emotion I found
07:08in these provincial conversations
07:10is uncertainty.
07:12For years, many Russians could keep the war
07:15at a comfortable distance.
07:17It was happening somewhere far away,
07:20mostly on television.
07:21You could mind your private life
07:24and nothing else,
07:25assuming that every next year
07:28would look roughly like this one.
07:31That assumption is getting harder to maintain.
07:34We can actually see the difference
07:36if we go back into the same local social media feeds.
07:40In December 2021,
07:41a large Krasnodar community
07:43asked its readers a simple question.
07:45What are your plans for New Year's Eve?
07:48Almost 2,000 people answered.
07:52Some plan to stay home,
07:53others to visit their parents,
07:55travel to Sochi or celebrate abroad.
07:58On the same day,
08:00their channel showed workers
08:02putting up the main city Christmas tree.
08:04Now open the same Krasnodar feed
08:06in the summer of 2026.
08:08There are repeated instructions
08:10explaining where to hide
08:12during a drone attack.
08:14Residents are told to stay away
08:16from windows and take shelter
08:18in underground parking garages or passages.
08:21Other posts explain what to do
08:24if you find pieces of a fallen drone.
08:27And almost every day,
08:29another practical question appears.
08:31Which gas stations still have gasoline?
08:35Ufa gives us an even sharper contrast.
08:37In the summer of 2021,
08:41one large local community
08:42was excited about
08:43an international folklore festival.
08:46More than 500 participants
08:48from 39 countries were expected.
08:51The mayor talked about
08:53carnival through the city
08:54and predicted a celebration
08:56residents would remember for years.
08:59Five years later,
09:01the same feed posts.
09:02Ufa is being attacked by drones again.
09:05Readers are sending photographs
09:08of black smoke over the city.
09:10But the channel explains that
09:12it cannot publish them
09:13because doing so is prohibited.
09:16One national number
09:17gives us another clue.
09:19In the first quarter of 2026,
09:21Russian pharmacies sold
09:226.4 million packages
09:24of antidepressants.
09:26That was 22% more
09:28than a year earlier.
09:30In many terms,
09:31sales rose 34%.
09:33And then there is
09:35what people actually say
09:37when something breaks
09:38through the routine.
09:40After a drone attack
09:41on Yekaterinburg in July,
09:43one reader of the city site
09:45Year One
09:46asked why
09:47there had been no siren.
09:50Another wrote
09:50that he only wanted
09:52enough time to leave for America.
09:54There are just two comments,
09:56but they capture
09:57the new calculation very well.
10:00People are asking themselves
10:01should I and my family
10:03stay in this city?
10:04Should I buy an apartment here?
10:06Even if I have the money?
10:09Their children's education,
10:10their career,
10:11their plans for the next 10 years
10:13all depend on one basic assumption
10:16that this remains
10:17a safe place to build a life.
10:20And that basic assumption
10:22now gets challenged.
10:23For people who oppose the war,
10:26there is another layer.
10:28A woman I know
10:29is stronger against Putin
10:31and against the invasion.
10:32But her daughter's boyfriend
10:34is serving in the Russian military
10:36and was sent to Sevastopol,
10:39where drone alerts and attacks
10:41have become part of normal life.
10:43This is the emotional split
10:45inside many families.
10:47You can hate the war
10:48and still fear for someone
10:50wearing the Russian uniform.
10:52You can want the whole thing to end
10:54and still wait for a message saying
10:58your close one is alive.
11:00The war comes home.
11:04The war reaches provincial Russia
11:06first as a warning on a phone.
11:08A siren sounds.
11:10Mobile internet slows or disappears.
11:13Someone hears a series of explosions
11:16and opens telegram to ask
11:18whether anyone else heard them.
11:20That pattern now appears across cities
11:23that once seemed impossibly far from the front.
11:26Take Yekaterinburg,
11:28the great industrial center of the Urals.
11:31In July,
11:32a major drone attack hit the city.
11:34A wildberries where a house was struck,
11:36workers fled,
11:37and residents filled comment sections
11:40asking why there had been no warning.
11:44Some of the attack stories
11:46became the most read
11:47and most discussed local news of the month.
11:50In Nizhny Novgorod,
11:52the situation is even more revealing
11:54because the city sits next to Kstowa,
11:57one of Russia's major refining centers.
12:00By June,
12:02local residents were already asking
12:04a very practical question.
12:06If drones come,
12:07where are we supposed to hide?
12:09Then on June 24,
12:11another attack killed two people in the region
12:13and damaged industrial and residential property.
12:16A local telegram channel called Alert 52
12:19has turned drone tracking into a public service.
12:23It tells more than 100,000 subscribers
12:26where drones have been spotted,
12:28which towns should prepare for an attack
12:30and when the danger has passed.
12:33Read it for a few minutes
12:34and the language becomes almost like a weather report.
12:39Kstowa, prepare.
12:41Nizhny Novgorod, prepare.
12:43Drone spotted, all clear.
12:45That is a profound change
12:47in what local information means.
12:50Ufa, the capital of Peshkartestan
12:52and a major refining center
12:53shows the same transition.
12:56In June and July,
12:57drone danger repeatedly appeared
12:59alongside completely ordinary city news.
13:03Even Kaliningrad,
13:04separated from the rest of Russia
13:06and nowhere near the Ukrainian border,
13:09has begun preparing residents
13:11for the same possibility.
13:13In July, instructions appear
13:15in apartment buildings
13:17explaining what people should do
13:19if they see a drone.
13:21Where is all the gas?
13:25Russia is one of the world's
13:27largest oil producers.
13:29Yet this summer,
13:31people across the country
13:32began using city chats
13:34to answer a question
13:35that would have sounded absurd
13:37a few years ago.
13:39Which gas station still has fuel?
13:41At first,
13:43officials insisted
13:44there was no real shortage.
13:46In Ufa,
13:47on June 25,
13:48a large local channel
13:50posted photographs
13:51of lines at gas stations
13:53and asked readers
13:54where they had managed
13:56to fill up.
13:57In the same evening summary
13:58came the official explanation.
14:00There was no gasoline deficit
14:02in Peshkartestan.
14:03The tues were caused
14:05by panic buying.
14:06Then the explanation changed.
14:08On July 10,
14:09Deputy Prime Minister
14:10Alexander Novak
14:11publicly acknowledged
14:13that strikes on oil refineries
14:14were taking parts of them
14:16out of operation
14:17and creating an actual fuel shortage.
14:20By late August,
14:23Russian gasoline production
14:24had fallen to roughly 70%
14:27of domestic demand
14:28after another wave
14:29of refinery attacks.
14:31Now look at how
14:33that national problem
14:34appears at street level.
14:36In Krasnodar,
14:37the capital of one of Russia's
14:39richest agricultural regions,
14:41the Municipal Information Center
14:43began publishing lists
14:44of gas stations
14:46that still had
14:47different grades of fuel.
14:49In Kaliningrad,
14:51the problem became
14:52so persistent
14:53that moderates
14:54created a dedicated chat
14:56for real-time information
14:57about fuel,
14:58queues,
14:59and deliveries.
15:00People asked
15:01where they can find
15:02AI-95
15:04without waiting
15:05in an enormous line.
15:07Some stations
15:08imposed limits.
15:09At one point,
15:11one chain
15:11allowed only
15:1230 liters of gasoline
15:14per customer.
15:15And then
15:16there is
15:16Vladivostok,
15:17Russia's Pacific port.
15:19There,
15:20queues for cheaper gasoline
15:22became large enough
15:23to obstruct traffic.
15:25Independent stations
15:27could charge
15:2810,
15:2820,
15:29sometimes
15:29far more rubles
15:30per liter
15:31above the
15:32large networks.
15:34Drivers responded
15:35in the most rational
15:36way possible.
15:37They waited.
15:39A fuel queues
15:40created a traffic jam,
15:42which then became
15:43another topic
15:44in the city chat.
15:45Cities at the breaking point
15:50Much of Russia's
15:51urban infrastructure
15:52was built decades ago.
15:54Since then,
15:55cities expanded,
15:56new apartment blocks
15:58went up,
15:58and old networks
16:00had to carry
16:01more people.
16:02In March,
16:03Russia's own
16:04construction minister
16:05said more than
16:0640% of the country's
16:08utility networks
16:09needed replacement.
16:10In some regions,
16:12we had reached
16:1380%.
16:14Mahachkala is perhaps
16:16the clearest example.
16:17The city has grown
16:19rapidly,
16:20but its water
16:21and sewage
16:22infrastructure
16:22has not kept pace.
16:24Now look at
16:26the local conversations.
16:27People post about
16:29water disappearing.
16:31Officials announce
16:32repairs.
16:33Residents report
16:34that it has returned,
16:36but only with
16:37weak pressure.
16:38Somewhere else,
16:39another pipe breaks.
16:41The water operator
16:42posts another apology
16:44and another estimated
16:45repair time.
16:47Chansport
16:47has the same problem.
16:50Mahachkala
16:50has been buying
16:51new buses.
16:52Yet the city
16:52also struggles
16:53to find people
16:54to drive them.
16:55Local officials
16:56have repeatedly
16:57complained about
16:58a shortage of drivers,
16:59while a city
17:00discussion channel
17:01noted that workers
17:03live for other
17:04Russian cities
17:05where wages are higher.
17:07Far to the north,
17:08Narils,
17:09gives us another
17:10version of the same story.
17:12Open the local
17:14housing management
17:15channel in August
17:16and you find
17:17a stream of notices.
17:19Cold water off
17:20at these addresses.
17:22Hot water off
17:23there.
17:24Heating network
17:25repairs somewhere else.
17:27Hydraulic testing
17:28across whole districts.
17:30And now money
17:31is becoming tighter.
17:33Russia's finance minister
17:35was warned
17:35that regional budgets
17:37are under growing strain.
17:39Corporate profit tax revenues
17:41have weakened.
17:43Regional debt
17:43is rising
17:44and war-related
17:45social payments
17:46are adding costs.
17:4874 Russian regions
17:50ran deficits
17:51last year.
17:52We can see
17:53the competition
17:53for money
17:54very clearly
17:55in Dagestan.
17:56This summer,
17:57the republic
17:58raised military contract
17:59incentives dramatically.
18:01A new record
18:02could receive
18:032.7 million rubles
18:05about
18:06$30,000
18:07from the regional government.
18:10That means
18:11less money available
18:13to solve
18:13the city's
18:14infrastructure problems.
18:16The war bill
18:21The war reaches
18:22a Russian household
18:23twice.
18:25First,
18:26through the government budget,
18:27then through the checkout.
18:29This year
18:30brought a very visible example.
18:32On January 1st,
18:34Russia raised
18:35its main VAT rate
18:37from 20% to 22%.
18:39At the same time,
18:41many smaller businesses
18:42lost an exemption
18:43that had protected
18:45them from VAT.
18:46The revenue threshold
18:48fell from
18:4860 million rubles
18:49per year
18:50to 20 million
18:51or about
18:52$240,000.
18:54The government
18:55had proposed
18:56the increase
18:56specifically
18:57as a way
18:57to raise money
18:58for defense
18:59and security spending.
19:01Russia spent
19:02about 7.5%
19:04of GDP
19:05on the military
19:06last year.
19:07That money
19:08creates
19:08purchasing power,
19:10but it
19:11cannot
19:11automatically
19:12create
19:12more
19:12consumer goods.
19:14Instead,
19:15it drives
19:15prices up.
19:17Add expensive
19:18credit,
19:19disrupted
19:19imports,
19:20labor shortages
19:21and now
19:22the fuel
19:22crisis
19:23and every
19:24stage
19:24of moving
19:25something
19:25from factory
19:26to store
19:27becomes
19:28more expensive.
19:29In July,
19:30medicines
19:30in Russia
19:31were about
19:319.6%
19:33more expensive
19:34than a year
19:35earlier.
19:36Some
19:37individual
19:37medications
19:38moved
19:38much faster.
19:40Kalingrad
19:40shows
19:41how
19:41geography
19:42adds
19:42another
19:43layer.
19:43This
19:44Russian
19:44exclave
19:45depends
19:45heavily
19:46on
19:46complicated
19:47supply
19:47routes
19:48through
19:48or
19:49around
19:50EU
19:50territory.
19:51In
19:51July,
19:52official
19:53statistics
19:53showed
19:54meat
19:54products
19:55costing
19:55about
19:565.7%
19:58more
19:58than a year
19:59earlier.
20:00Beef
20:00was up
20:01more
20:01than
20:026%.
20:02Turkey
20:03was up
20:04more
20:04than
20:049%.
20:05Lamb
20:06had
20:06risen
20:06more
20:07than
20:0722%.
20:08You see
20:09a similar
20:10kind of
20:10conversation
20:11in
20:11Krasnodar's
20:12local
20:12telegram
20:12channels.
20:13Gasoline
20:14prices,
20:15the cost
20:15of getting
20:16a child
20:16ready
20:17for school,
20:18supermarket
20:18discounts,
20:19people
20:20comparing
20:20what things
20:21now cost.
20:22This is how
20:23the state
20:24transfers
20:24part of the
20:25cost of
20:26war to
20:26regular
20:26citizens
20:27without
20:28sending
20:28anyone
20:29an invoice
20:29saying
20:30Ukraine.
20:32The illusion
20:33of growth
20:36Now we
20:37come to
20:38the strangest
20:38thing in
20:39these local
20:40conversations.
20:41Russia's regions
20:42appear to have
20:43jobs that
20:44nobody can fill
20:45and people
20:46who struggle
20:47to land
20:47a decent
20:48job.
20:49These two
20:49things exist
20:50at the same
20:51time.
20:52How is it
20:53that even
20:53possible?
20:55Russia's
20:56labor market
20:56has lost
20:57workers to
20:58immigration
20:59demographics,
21:00the military
21:00and the
21:01defense
21:02industry.
21:03Employers
21:03report
21:04shortages
21:04of
21:05welders,
21:06engineers,
21:06construction
21:07workers and
21:08other skilled
21:09specialists.
21:09But that
21:10doesn't mean
21:11every Russian
21:11can walk
21:12outside and
21:12choose among
21:13five good
21:13offers.
21:14Remember
21:15Mahachkala,
21:16the city
21:16needs drivers
21:17badly enough
21:18that employers
21:19advertise
21:19unusually high
21:20local salaries.
21:22But a
21:22person who
21:23spent 20
21:24years working
21:24in retail
21:25cannot
21:26suddenly become
21:27a bus driver
21:28or industrial
21:29welder.
21:30This is a
21:31skills mismatch.
21:32The economy
21:33needs
21:33particular
21:34people in
21:35particular
21:35places.
21:36The people
21:37looking for
21:38work may
21:39be somewhere
21:39else with
21:40completely
21:41different
21:41experience.
21:42At the
21:43national level,
21:44the economic
21:45picture is
21:46increasingly
21:47flat.
21:48In the
21:48first seven
21:49months of
21:502026,
21:51Russian
21:51industrial
21:52production
21:53grew by
21:53just 0.1%.
21:56That
21:57headline
21:57conceals
21:58enormous
21:59differences.
22:00Production
22:01of other
22:02transport
22:02equipment,
22:03a category
22:04that includes
22:05aircraft and
22:05shipbuilding,
22:06rose almost
22:0723%,
22:08while almost
22:10every other
22:10industry
22:11declined.
22:12Then,
22:13there is
22:13the cost
22:14of borrowing.
22:15The central
22:16bank's key
22:17interest rate
22:17is 14%.
22:19A business
22:20loan costs
22:21more than
22:21that.
22:22At those
22:23rates,
22:24opening another
22:25workshop,
22:25buying machinery
22:26or building
22:27a warehouse
22:28requires a
22:29very convincing
22:30expected return.
22:31And war is
22:32creating
22:33completely new
22:34business risks.
22:35This summer,
22:36sellers using
22:37wildberries
22:38discovered what
22:39happens when
22:40a war reaches
22:41a warehouse.
22:42After goods
22:43were destroyed
22:44during drone
22:44strikes on
22:45logistics centers
22:46in the
22:47Moscow and
22:48Tomov regions,
22:49wildberries said
22:50it was working
22:51on compensation.
22:53But its
22:54contract had
22:55already classified
22:56drone attacks
22:57as force
22:57majeure.
22:58Azone introduced
22:59similar protections
23:01and later
23:02more than
23:03tripled the
23:03price of
23:04optional
23:04warehouse
23:05insurance for
23:06sellers.
23:06Think about
23:07the small
23:08entrepreneur
23:08behind those
23:09goods.
23:10She may have
23:10borrowed money
23:11to buy stock.
23:12That stock
23:13employs
23:13warehouse workers,
23:14couriers,
23:15photographs,
23:17advertisers,
23:18accountants,
23:19and manufacturers.
23:20Destroy the
23:21inventory,
23:22make insurance
23:23expensive,
23:24raise taxes,
23:25keep credit
23:25rates high,
23:26and the damage
23:27travels through
23:28businesses that
23:29have nothing to
23:30do with weapons.
23:32This is what
23:33the official
23:33growth figures
23:34have trouble
23:35showing.
23:37Before you go,
23:38I want to ask
23:39you something
23:39personal.
23:40Do people in
23:41your local area
23:42talk about a
23:43problem that
23:44the media barely
23:46covers or ignores
23:47completely?
23:47And if so,
23:49what is it?
23:51Please share
23:52your story in
23:53the comments.
23:53If this episode
23:55gave you a
23:55different way of
23:56looking at
23:56everyday life in
23:57Russia,
23:58please like the
23:59video,
23:59subscribe,
24:00and share it
24:01with someone
24:02who might find
24:03it interesting.
24:04You can also
24:05help keep this
24:06channel independent
24:07by joining my
24:08think tank,
24:09leaving a super
24:10thanks,
24:10supporting through
24:11PayPal,
24:12or using your
24:13hype points to
24:14help this episode
24:15reach more
24:15viewers.
24:16And if you
24:17are listening
24:17on Spotify,
24:18please follow
24:19the show so
24:20the next episode
24:21lands in your
24:22feed automatically.
24:23Thank you for
24:24watching.
24:24I'll see you
24:25in the next one.
24:47I'll see you

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