Dan Hardoon

At that point, did you think, well, actually, am I really making the right decision here?

Well, I wanted to be with my wife, so I can put it with that.

Ben tells me there are pros and cons of living in Russia.

On the positive side, he says Russians are very friendly, especially if you speak their language, and he feels safer day to day, something I'd heard from several expats.

The downsides include lower wages and the difficulty of renting a property if you're not Russian.

Ben says he started his YouTube channel to give a sense of what life is really like for a Westerner in Russia.

Do you feel able to speak very freely, or do you feel that there's things you'd think twice about saying on that channel?

I think I can speak...

openly about the challenges of life.

Obviously, I don't want to touch politics with a six-foot barge pole.

But in general, I think the biggest issues with it will be when you actually post it and you have people online debating it rather than the authorities themselves.

There's been some rather mean comments about me.

From people living where?

Living in the West.

People who don't particularly like Russia's politics and so they take it out on me for moving.

A lot of comments about wishing to see me turn into Red Mist or wanting to see me in the newest drone footage from the front.

There's comments about my wife as well but I won't discuss them and they're quite difficult to read here.

Does it make you want to stop doing the online vlogging?

Yeah, I'll be honest, yeah, it does.

Last year, Ben made a YouTube video specifically about the Shared Values Visa, which is how I came across him.