BBC Radio 4 From Our Own Correspondent, What do Russians think of the war in Ukraine

He said for many people in this group, opinions changed in June 2022 when many realized the conflict was becoming protracted and not the fast military operation initially promised. Even those who did agree to answer the questions in Miniailo’s survey displayed a heightened level of fear and discomfort. One man in his fifties said, “It is now prohibited by law to answer what you think about this topic.

  • “We have become so comfortable here in Britain that it’s hard to imagine young people fighting, and when I went to Afghanistan a decade ago, I didn’t think the youngsters of would be up to much,” he said.
  • The night ends with a 39-year-old man driving a car into the police barriers at Pushkin Square with signs “This is war!
  • Overall, researchers say they have tracked just a 9% fall in support for the war last year.

It is presented as a “just war” predicated upon Russia’s responsibility to help Russians in need. I can’t even really tell why they believe what they believe. It could be their Soviet past, or the government propaganda that has been poured out for so many years, or just that there is too much fear and anxiety to actually allow the thought that the world is different from what they expect. Being far away from them helps because we try to prioritise keeping our relationship intact and caring for each other more than anything.

What the ruthless new commander of Russia's military in Ukraine signals for the war

“The Russians do not understand the real numbers of losses. … The media gives only authorized information, and the [country at large] 'absorbs’ losses,” she explained. Some 38% of respondents reported the war “has reduced their options or ruined their plans.” Among them, 14% of respondents reported a job loss, 36% a decrease in income and 56% reported spending more savings on food. “The feeling of the inevitability of war from the life of Russians, the feeling that the war is now with us, and we are with this life, caused the emergence of new meanings of war,” Zhuravlev said.

  • Travel is hard – you can’t go anywhere with a Russian passport.
  • At demonstrations, people are detained for several days or fined.
  • In Russia, state-run newspapers and media outlets blame the West for aggression, mirroring the Kremlin's language.
  • Another potential threat could come from anti-war politicians, whom Kremlin propagandists might seek to incite.
  • To put it simply, before launching an offensive, it’s worth thinking about who will fight in that offensive and how willingly, and to what extent an active conflict will prompt people to rally around Putin.
  • A source familiar with the situation said the drone fell at about 7am local time but had not affected fuel output.

Now, those who want to publish and are affiliated with Russia have been asked to withhold applications, though they have not yet been officially withdrawn. The same thing with conferences – international events that take place in Moscow are all cancelled. Young Russians tell us about a war few wanted and how the sanctions are affecting their lives. War never leads to anything good and won’t this time either,” – says 18-year-old Tonya, wearing a bag with a hand-stitched "No war" sign. But even though justification of the Ukraine invasion can be found among Russians, there have been no demonstrations of support. “The night of (the invasion), I was in a really great mood," recalls Ksenia. "My friend and I were celebrating February 23 (Day of the Defender of the Fatherland or, more commonly, Men’s Day).

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When I hear it from Ukrainian people, I begin to doubt that our president’s strategy is wrong. Maybe Putin and his people know more and it’s really all justified. Examples of Yugoslavia and Libya, two states bombed by NATO forces, are used to drive fears that Russia may be next. The day before the start of the war, Putin told the nation of WWII-era promises not to expand NATO eastward and said those promises had been broken five times.

  • It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism.
  • For democracies, long-term consensus in support for war has always been more complicated than for autocrats with no accountability.
  • If researchers exclude this group and also exclude the 20% of Russians who admit they oppose the war, that leaves about half of the country's population who researchers say support the war only at the "declarative level."
  • The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw the return of major war to the European continent.
  • Ukraine will probably try to exploit the success it has had in re-establishing its control over the western Black Sea and its vital trade corridor to the Bosphorus.

Mr Szijarto will be in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. European countries have largely outsourced much of their military capacity and thinking on strategy and security to the States through NATO. Phillips P OBrien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, wrote in an analysis piece that the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House could see the US "neuter" the Western military alliance. A prominent war expert has warned the US is on the verge of diminishing its support for or even withdrawing from NATO - and this could have catastrophic consequences for Europe. I was planning to go see my family right about this time, but it doesn’t seem possible any more. I mean – there is probably a way to go to Russia, but almost zero way for me to come back to study, and as a new semester is coming, I’m not risking it.

‘I‘m not going to leave here and give up. Russia is my home’

I’m against the war, and most of my friends and people I know feel the same way. These are mostly people around my age with the same level of education. However, when it comes to family, I, unfortunately, do have a conflict with my parents. This has been pretty hard as we have very different views. I deleted some of my messages because the police check social media chats on public transportation. In addition, the police recently searched the flat of a close friend of mine and then put her under house arrest for two months.

  • Meanwhile, Moscow has claimed its forces have taken control of the village of Tabaivka in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region.
  • Koneva said that in June 2023, respondents were asked to send "virtual telegrams to ordinary Ukrainian citizens."
  • Sometimes I can’t help but try to convince them, which obviously doesn’t work.
  • "A frank and constructive dialogue is expected to improve relations between states," the Ukrainian president's office said on its official channel on the Telegram messaging app alongside a photo of Mr Szijjarto, Mr Kuleba and Mr Yermak.
  • It seemed to me that all this was not real and could not last long.

“In the past few years, I’ve become closely involved with volunteering. Roughly speaking, https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-the-conflict-in-ukraine-will-affect-the-uk.html started helping another part of the population. Over 2022, I helped with humanitarian aid for visiting refugees from the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, collected humanitarian aid, and wrote letters for mobilised servicemen.

what do russian people think of ukraine

In mid-March, Aleksei Miniailo, a former social entrepreneur and current opposition politician, oversaw another telephone survey with the aim of trying to capture the effects of fear and propaganda on survey data. And that figure came from among those who agreed to participate at all; Miniailo suspected that the polls were not capturing a majority of the real antiwar sentiment, whatever its size. According to the Athena Project, a collective of sociologists and I.T. Twenty-one per cent of TV viewers didn’t know the goal of the operation. To understand the nature and composition of the pro-war majority, you need to dig deeper.

what do russian people think of ukraine

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Pub: 14 Feb 2024 20:22 UTC
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