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> In Russia the situation is that most people actually support Putin Russian here. I'm not so sure about the public support. I've yet to see a single [Z] or [

> In Russia the situation is that most people actually support Putin Russian here. I'm not so sure about the public support. I've yet to see a single [Z] or [V] sticker on a car in my city. I haven's seen a single Uber driver excitedly telling me about "our victories" -- they've become much less chatty since the war started. Yes, I saw a few video billboards with clumsy [Z] propaganda, but the ad companies may have been forced by the state to display it, under the threat of withdrawing their license to operate an ad business. In my social circle (educated people -- architects, artists, IT, engineers, etc.) there's not a single person who supports the war. A few are in denial, but the majority is profoundly depressed by what's happening. A personal datapoint: My wife hated everything Ukrainian for all her life, way before the war and even before the Crimea events. She has hardwired, biological, instinctual nationalism on a level that would be more appropriate for a football ultra. However, she's been genuinely horrified and gravely depressed since the first day of the war.

NoPie 5y ago
Good to hear that the public opinion is changing. It strengthens the case that it is important to provide proper information more than ever.
- MrDisposable 5y ago
  It isn't changing. I may be projecting, but this grave mood has been dominant since the first day of the war. On the contrary, when Puting announced the recognition of two Donbass republics as independent countries a few days before the war, there was a round of cheer and optimism -- because that would mean that the cross-border shellings in Donbass will finally stop. But that cheer has completely evaporated the morning the invasion started. (Take this with a grain of salt -- this is based on my personal observations of my relatively narrow social circle, plus I may be projecting).
  - emptysongglass 5y ago
    May I ask how you're doing? Why are you staying and are you able to live effectively with a cheaper ruble?
    - MrDisposable 5y ago
      Thank you. My overall mood is grave, but I have a business to save and a family to feed. Yes, I'd be able to live quite well with the cheaper ruble, but that requires being able to retain the foreign revenue flow into Russia and being able to convert the dollar to ruble at a decent rate. There's still a lot of uncertainty about both of these. As for why am I staying... well, that's a big, big question. I won't feel at home abroad. Yes, I've been to multiple countries in Europe, and I'd be perfectly fine on an everyday level, but I won't be at home. And I'm not exactly young either. It is sad that the Russian World is really small, compared to the Angloshere, and it's dominated by Putin's Russia. We Russians don't really have another place to run to... Yes we can smuggle ourselves to Europe, but we'll spend decades on getting the citizenship, diligently working boring CRUD jobs, wasting our potential until we're old...
EugeneOZ 5y ago
It's because you are not old and you are educated. Unfortunately, some Russians (older and less educated) do support Putin. But for sure, even amongst them, almost nobody supports the war.
- MrDisposable 5y ago
  Sadly, I'm not that young -- I'm about 50. Absolutely, older Russians ("The TV people" as we call them here) did support Putin before the war. However, I haven't yet formed my opinion about what they think now. Remember, they've been raised during the Soviet era, when Ukraine was considered one of the brother nations to Russia, who fought together with us against Hitler. And now we're bombing their cities -- we're the Hitler now. Maybe they'll go into denial ("NATO hates us and forced us to do it"). Maybe. Also, their life quality will severely degrade in the coming months -- they'll have to spend much more money on food and medicine; and that would also be a factor.
  - int_19h 5y ago
    Judging by my extended family, it seems to depend on the proportion of news obtained from the TV versus the Internet. Many older people basically don't trust the Net, but have an ingrained habit of religiously following the news on TV - and right now it's basically non-stop propaganda, from what I hear.

NoPie 5y ago

Good to hear that the public opinion is changing. It strengthens the case that it is important to provide proper information more than ever.

MrDisposable 5y ago
It isn't changing. I may be projecting, but this grave mood has been dominant since the first day of the war. On the contrary, when Puting announced the recognition of two Donbass republics as independent countries a few days before the war, there was a round of cheer and optimism -- because that would mean that the cross-border shellings in Donbass will finally stop. But that cheer has completely evaporated the morning the invasion started. (Take this with a grain of salt -- this is based on my personal observations of my relatively narrow social circle, plus I may be projecting).
- emptysongglass 5y ago
  May I ask how you're doing? Why are you staying and are you able to live effectively with a cheaper ruble?
  - MrDisposable 5y ago
    Thank you. My overall mood is grave, but I have a business to save and a family to feed. Yes, I'd be able to live quite well with the cheaper ruble, but that requires being able to retain the foreign revenue flow into Russia and being able to convert the dollar to ruble at a decent rate. There's still a lot of uncertainty about both of these. As for why am I staying... well, that's a big, big question. I won't feel at home abroad. Yes, I've been to multiple countries in Europe, and I'd be perfectly fine on an everyday level, but I won't be at home. And I'm not exactly young either. It is sad that the Russian World is really small, compared to the Angloshere, and it's dominated by Putin's Russia. We Russians don't really have another place to run to... Yes we can smuggle ourselves to Europe, but we'll spend decades on getting the citizenship, diligently working boring CRUD jobs, wasting our potential until we're old...

EugeneOZ 5y ago

It's because you are not old and you are educated. Unfortunately, some Russians (older and less educated) do support Putin. But for sure, even amongst them, almost nobody supports the war.

MrDisposable 5y ago
Sadly, I'm not that young -- I'm about 50. Absolutely, older Russians ("The TV people" as we call them here) did support Putin before the war. However, I haven't yet formed my opinion about what they think now. Remember, they've been raised during the Soviet era, when Ukraine was considered one of the brother nations to Russia, who fought together with us against Hitler. And now we're bombing their cities -- we're the Hitler now. Maybe they'll go into denial ("NATO hates us and forced us to do it"). Maybe. Also, their life quality will severely degrade in the coming months -- they'll have to spend much more money on food and medicine; and that would also be a factor.
- int_19h 5y ago
  Judging by my extended family, it seems to depend on the proportion of news obtained from the TV versus the Internet. Many older people basically don't trust the Net, but have an ingrained habit of religiously following the news on TV - and right now it's basically non-stop propaganda, from what I hear.