Who is J-Mart?

In Part 3A of my autobiography, I recounted my experiences of moving to Moscow in 1997 when I was just 9 years old. My family had left Armenia in search of better economic prospects and ended up in Russia after a short unsuccessful stint in Ukraine first. Russia in 1997, led by Boris Yeltsin, was one year removed from the end of the First Chechen War which caused a significant influx of immigrants to Moscow. While these immigrants could have been seen as a positive addition to the labor force, filling low-paying and physically demanding jobs in sectors with labor shortages, they were instead viewed as a security threat and blamed for various societal problems, such as economic instability, political unrest, and corruption. As a result, my family and I faced discrimination and prejudice for not being ethnically Russian, even though our skin color was not all that different from the locals. Less than a year after we moved to Moscow, a financial crisis was brewing. I vividly recall the sudden shift in the exchange rate between the Russian ruble and US dollar. Initially, one could exchange six rubles for a single dollar, but within a short period, the rate shot up to nearly thirty rubles to a dollar. This would become known as the "Ruble Crisis'' of 1998. Although I was only 10 years old, even I could reason that those who had saved money in rubles suddenly found that their savings were worth much less than before. To make matters worse, there were a series of terrorist attacks in Moscow and other cities in 1998 and 1999, including bombings in a subway station, a shopping center, and an apartment building, all labelled as being perpetrated by Chechen separatists. The Russian government responded with a crackdown on all immigrants of non-Russian ethnic descent, leading to increased military operations and a visible military presence in the city. I saw military officers with assault rifles regularly patrolling the Moscow subway stations at this time.The terrorist attacks also led to the start of the Second Chechen War in the summer of 1999, as Russian forces launched a major military campaign in the Chechnya region. A month after the start of the war, there was yet another bloody apartment bombing in Moscow, killing hundreds, which escalated the conflict and led to increased support for the war among the Russian population. There was no transparency in the bombing investigation however, leading many people to question the validity of the claim that it was done by Chechen separatists. As a kid who had never lived in anything other than apartment buildings, I remember specifically thinking about the chances of my building being bombed next rather than wondering who really did it. As already mentioned, Boris Yeltsin was the President of Russia through most of the 90s but on New Years Eve of 1999 he unexpectedly resigned from power citing health issues, marking the end of an era in Russian politics and paving the way for the rise of Vladimir Putin. If anyone is old enough to remember Boris Yeltsin, you probably remember him for his public displays of drunkenness. Check out the link to this nearly 4 minute compilation of Boris Yeltsin caught on camera acting really drunk during official presidential proceedings to familiarize yourself with the man. Even I, as a young boy, saw some of these clips on TV and knew this about him. So it’s not difficult to imagine that he truly was unhealthy and could not continue to act as President. On the other hand, Russia was facing high inflation, unemployment, and a sharp decline in living standards because of the Ruble Crisis in addition to a new kinetic military campaign in Chechnya, so it’s also plausible that he did not wish to face these challenges while managing conflicts with the parliament, the military, and other powerful groups in Russian society. Regardless, after nearly a decade in power he stepped down and let Prime Minister Vladimir Putin take over as acting President. Three months later in March of 2000, Putin was elected President with a majority vote. Thankfully, my family would emigrate away from Russia 7 months later in October while the country would remain at war with Chechnya under the direction of Putin till 2009, nearly a decade later. Putin himself remains in power to this day, significantly outlasting his predecessor Yeltsin by more than a decade. And of course I don’t have to remind anybody that he has also started a new military campaign in Ukraine.So how did my family manage to escape to Canada? With the economic and geopolitical struggles of Russia in addition to the ethnic discrimination we would continue to face, my parents decided that we had to keep moving somewhere else. Fortunately Canada's immigration policy in the late 1990s was focused on attracting skilled individuals with a "Skilled Worker Points System." Applicants were assessed based on education, language skills, work experience, age, arranged employment and adaptability. ...