By Zahra Ullah and Ana Archen, CNN
Moscow (CNN) — High-energy pop music blares out across the atrium of a glitzy shopping mall in a middle-class Moscow suburb. But what was meant as the soundtrack to the hustle and bustle of shoppers is instead playing to largely vacant and boarded-up glass-fronted units – a poignant sign of Russia’s economic malaise.
The sprawling Goodzone mall flung open its doors in 2014 amid much fanfare. It includes an eight-screen multiplex cinema that now sits deserted, its foyer lights switched off. Though still open seven days a week, the mall in southern Moscow appears to be slowly dying, with few open shops and even fewer customers.
Following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the exodus of Western companies and unprecedented Western sanctions, Russia’s economy defied expectations, pivoting to massive military spending and…
