What do the ordinary Russian citizens want/think about invading Ukraine?

[BigmanPigman]

Is there any current and reliable info on the average Russian citizen and what they think about Putin invading Ukraine. What is their desire and not Putin's?

[niyad]

1. Excellent question.

[Hekate]

2. I think most of them don't have access to factual news, since Putin is in the habit of poisoning...

… and beating up and imprisoning journalists who defy him by reporting truth. Oh, and seeing that certain people jump to their deaths from 2nd story windows after bashing their own skulls in inside their home.

Remember polonium? It’s his signature poison.

I could go on, but it is depressing. The propaganda machine runs as well as ever. Meet the new Russia, same as the old Russia,

[TreasonousBastard]

3. How would we know

[Tomconroy]

4. Just read an article I think at CNN on how little information

there is on Russian public opinion. Essentially all dissent has been crushed. You can be arrested for liking the wrong thing on the internet.
There are numerous videos that get posted to TikTok of Russian troop movements. Maybe those people are antiwar. Or maybe Putin wants the stuff to get out for some reason.

[BigmanPigman]

5. I guess we'll never really know.

I checked out new info from Pussy Riot, the all female punk rock group that was arrested for being outspoken in the past and there was nothing.

[Tomconroy]

6. This isn't the article I was thinking of but it seems to sum up

the situation:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/sergei-davidis-anti-war-movement-russia/

Essentially in recent years Putin has cracked down on any dissent.

[BigmanPigman]

7. That was a great article. Thanks!

I thought that may be what is going on and it does make sense, unfortunately.

Now I wonder what would happen if Putin is no longer their dictator for life (as he has basically insured). Are there others who he has installed who will carry on in the same fashion? Those oligarchs will want to protect their $$$, sort of like the GQP supporting a tRump-like leader to stay in power and continue to grift.

[Tomconroy]

8. This place is supposed to do accurate polls about Russian

public opinion. The only relevant poll I could find is from a year ago.

https://www.levada.ru/en/2021/05/19/escalation-in-southeast-ukraine/

[BigmanPigman]

11. That was very useful, thanks!

I wasn't expecting that, sort of. Maybe I was hoping for a different response. I wonder what a new poll would show. I doubt it would be very different though.

[Scrivener7]

16. Wow. NONE of them think it's Russia. That is disturbing.

Shows the power of social media to corral public opinion.

Great resource. Thanks.

[Aussie105]

9. In Russia, we only talk about the weather.

In Russia, if a camera of a foreign interviewer is pointed at us, we only say nice things about Russian politics and leaders.

So much safer that way.

[BigmanPigman]

10. I was afraid that that would be the case.

Are you living there now? If so, how do you interpret the situation? What do you see and hear?

[Scrivener7]

17. Ah. That is actually good to know. Better than thinking

the manipulation is successful.

[haele]

19. Safer to keep quiet when living under a Mobster's rule.

After all, snitches get stitches. -or shrouds.
It's hard enough to live in Russia, where there's competition for a safe, middle class lifestyle and it seems that options for any sort of better life for your kids depends on how you or they can impress the local professional or educational gatekeepers. Used to be the Party network; hasn't changed much.

The average Russian is going to say whatever keeps them and their family or jobs safe from those numbers of under-educated dead-enders who can't do much of anything but occasionally enforce the local status quo for most of their rather short (by Western standards) lives.
Disclaimer - this is what I've been told by a couple of Russians ex-pats I've known over the last decade or so. YMMV depending on who you talk to, but I got the impression that money has to change hands or "favors" have to happen before there can be any upward social mobility for the average Russian, no matter how talented or driven the person may be.

Haele

[Lancero]

12. Much like your average Republican, your average Russian...

Longs for the return of the 'good ol days'.

[sarge43]

13. When exactly were the good ol' days?

Russian history goes a long ways in explaining why Russians don't smile a lot.

[ItsjustMe]

14. Putin Elevator Portrait Gets A Rise Out Of Riders

A YouTube vlogger hung a portrait of President Vladimir Putin in the elevator of a Moscow apartment building. The residents' reactions, caught on video, ranged from amused to profane.
Originally published at

[multigraincracker]

15. Nice.

If he has to raise the price of vodka a buck a bottle to pay for it, he is toast.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

18. My n is less than 20, but they don't want war.