Russians have come to terms with Putin's war in Ukraine - Bloomberg
Date: 2024-05-07 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WORLD
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has already become part of everyday life for many Russians, defying expectations that the pressure of international sanctions and deepening isolation will eventually turn them against Vladimir Putin. Many are not protesting, but rallying around the flag, Bloomberg writes.
"The Kremlin is using the biggest European conflict since World War II to reorganize Russia, combining fierce nationalism with a powerful mixture of nostalgia for Soviet times and imperial traditions with an increasing crackdown on dissent. As a result, Putin is under little domestic pressure to end the fighting, despite huge military losses," the publication writes.
This is in stark contrast to the first months after the February 2022 invasion, when many Russians reacted with anger, depression and shock, according to sociologist Anna Kuleshova of the Social Forecasting Group.
“When there is no decent way out of the situation, there is no opportunity to leave, but there is a need to earn money and raise children, it is easier to accept the new reality than to endlessly resist it,” says Kuleshova.
As Bloomberg writes, the war has penetrated all layers of Russian society. In many schools, children send gifts and letters to front-line soldiers and are required to attend special lessons in which they are taught the “correct” ideology. TV and radio programs are filled with military themes, depicting those fighting in Ukraine as the successors of the generation that defeated the Nazi invasion in the “Great Patriotic War,” ignoring the fact that this time the aggressor is Russia. Military recruitment campaigns offer lucrative bonuses and salaries to those who “be a man” and join the ranks of contract soldiers.
