From the nationalist fervor experienced after the annexation of crimea in 2014 to the anxiety for the future. In just under eight years, a large number of Russian citizens — impossible to count due to the country’s restrictions on freedom of expression — have gone from cheer with fervor the incorporation of the peninsula into the Russian Federation by means of weapons to fear ending up as citizens of an isolated state disconnected from the global economy, with numerous ballots to become a pariah international.
“Those who are going to suffer this war are going to be the Russians and the Ukrainians,” he anticipates Katya Chernenkova. One of the main concerns of this woman, of a quarantine of years, married and with a daughterlies in knowing if you can continue traveling abroad easily or if it will return to a like scenario lived during the Soviet era, when you could only travel to Europe or the United States Exceptionally and with dropper.
An idea of low enthusiasm What this war is generating among local public opinion has been made very clear in the agonizing weeks prior to the invasion of Ukraine. life went on unreal, as if nothing was happening, and with a feeling of absolute indifference to the reports broadcast by the controlled state television channels denouncing the alleged “genocide” that the Russian-speakers were suffering in the two Ukrainian regions under the control of the pro-russian militias.
In accordance with an opinion poll recently carried out by the CNN network, which must be read with caution given the difficulties of doing this kind of questions in a state of marked totalitarian character, 46% of the Russians they would not approve Ukraine’s annexation to Russia by force, while 36% yes they would. The results vary if what is involved is to prevent the Slavic country from integrating into the NATOan organization that continues to generate a epidermal rejection among the Russians, a narrative that the Kremlin is reiterating throughout the related media: for slightly more than half the use of force would be in this case a acceptable optionwhile only a quarter of the population would reject it.
acts of protest
Related news
Instead of the manifestations of patriotic fervor occurred after the incorporation of the peninsula on the shores of the Black Sea eight years ago, what have occurred on this occasion have been unauthorized popular actions of rejection in which numerous arrests have been recorded. In the five days of the military campaign in Ukraine, there have been about 5,000 arrests of protesters. In addition, some significant groups have approved communiqués and declarations calling for the end of the military campaign, such as a group of 4,100 scientists, that they have lamented that his country, “which made a decisive contribution to the victory against Nazismhas become the instigator of a war in Europe”.
In February, five thousand from intellectuals, among philosophers, historians, journalists and artists, denounced the danger of the “adventurism of the Russian leadership” and called for a return to normalcy in relations with the West, alleging that the “majority of the Russian population does not want war.” Despite everything, few think that these signs of disagreement with the Kremlin warmongering can have an impact on their decisions, at least in the short term. “It is significant, given the climate of repression in Russia, but we do not count on them being able to influence their country,” the Ukrainian historian assures this newspaper. Yaroslav Hrytsak, from the Catholic University of Lviv.