Zoya bought the watch without a moment’s delay.

Vladislav said his company works with brands that “on paper” have officially left Russia."Legally, they are not involved, but they are well aware that their cars are coming into Russia. For the most part, they turn a blind eye. We don’t talk about politics. Business relationships - that’s what’s important”.

Vladislav, like other businessmen who spoke to Al Jazeera, declined to talk about his supply chains in detail."Russian business does everything possible to fill the gap. For many,  this is an opportunity to carve out their niche in the market," Natalia Zubarevich, a professor at Moscow State University and an expert in regional socioeconomic development, told Al Jazeera.“The market cannot be empty if you can profit from it.”

Still, the Russian market has changed in some ways since the invasion."Supply chains are now longer, goods become more expensive,” Burmistrov from Infoline-Analytics told Al Jazeera.

Burmstrov said that consumers have not seen the true impact of higher prices because the Russian government has provided low-interest subsidised loans to support parallel imports.

But he expects parallel imports to decline over time - and not because of international pressure.“Everyone wants to return,” he noted. However, many cannot afford transportation in a country where 90 percent of the population lives in poverty.

“There is nothing here – no schools, no health clinics, no water and no electricity,” al-Khatib said while sitting on the ground in his tent near what remains of his home.The conflict, which erupted in 2011 following al-Assad’s brutal suppression of antigovernment protests, killed more than 500,000 people and displaced half of Syria’s pre-war population either internally or abroad, with many seeking refuge in Idlib province.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than six million people remain internally displaced.A glimpse into the people, places and daily life in Palestine before the 1948 Nakba.