> From the data points that I have, I'd say that most people in Russia support Putin (including in my family). Russians are bi-modaly distributed: there are pe

> From the data points that I have, I'd say that most people in Russia support Putin (including in my family). Russians are bi-modaly distributed: there are people who approve of him (many Russians like strong leaders, which explains photographs of topless Putin riding a horse, Putin in an expensive car etc.) and there are also Russian people who demonstrate and speak out despite the clearly severe consequences that come with that attitude (4,300 arrests of protesters against the invasion of Ukraine to date). In this thread on sanctions versus non sanctions it is discussed whether the sanctions hit only ordinary people or also the super-rich. What we need to also mention is that a large part of the pro-Putin people are only supportive because of government propaganda bias, and the absence of any high-quality international media. Finding more effective ways to make ordinary Russians aware of what is going on might be the least painful path to ending the nightmare (but it's still a long game).