“Opponents, supporters, and those who seek just to get on with their lives”

July 2022 77

INCE FEBRUARY 2022, the Ukrainian

crisis has obviously become the most

important topic of conversation and

debate in Russian society.

Unfortunately, there have not been

enough reliable research papers collecting

information on how Russians perceive the crisis.

Nevertheless, it is possible to brieﬂy identify

three main categories: opponents, supporters,

and those who seek just to get on with their lives.

Let us examine each group in a little more detail.

Some opponents are members of the

opposition, and protest speciﬁcally against the

actions of the government. They emphasise that

the growing conﬂict between Russia and the

‘West’ does not lead to any advantages, but

rather is poisonous to Russia’s national interests.

Political isolation, economic decline due to the

withdrawal of several companies from the

Russian market, and the severance of social and

cultural ties are cited as the main downsides.

Many claim that Russia has now lost about ten

years of technological development due to the

escalation of the conﬂict.

Some opposition is moral — people who do not

accept military action leading to human suering

and dying as a way to solve any problem.

Opponents of military action have no problem

expressing their position privately or online.

But at opposition rallies many people are

detained, and one can also face consequences

for speaking out in public.

It is worth pointing out that in the Russian

media it is rather dicult to criticise a special

military operation. For example, there is a law on

fake news about the Russian army, which strictly

controls any information submitted by the media

considering the current events.

And we should also not forget that it is better

to call a special military operation by that name

only, as a dierent designation may lead to

negative consequences.

By Artemy Dzhafarovis

A student in Moscow reveals untold attitudes to

the special military operation among Russians

The supporters of a military

operation are very likely to

outnumber its opponents

Wr/specil-opertion protesters in St Petersburg in Februry

The supporters of a military operation are very

likely to outnumber its opponents.

Looking at the situation with an open mind:

ﬁrst, the special military operation is heavily

supported by the state-controlled media, which

dominates.

Given that many people rely on TV, they

somehow ﬁnd themselves exposed to the ocial

point of view with relatively few sources of

alternative positions.

Second, the special military operation is

conducted under the auspices of the ﬁght against

Nazism and Fascism.

Given the historical trauma received by the

Russian people after World War II, all citizens of

the state sincerely despise Fascism as it was in

Germany in the middle of the twentieth century.

Fighting fascism is a legitimate justiﬁcation for

the use of military force for many.

Third, it is worth pointing out that there is a

stratum of people who support a special military

operation from a purely rational point of view.

There is the idea that Russia is currently ﬁghting

for its sovereignty. According to supporters of the

special military operation, at the moment only

countries such as the United States, China,

France and some others have sovereignty.

In other words, very few countries are truly

independent. This is due to the tight attachment

to the dollar, as well as the integration of many

countries into the world economy as virtual

colonies, from which resources are siphoned o.

The truly independent countries are a small

circle that earned it ‘by right of force’, that is, by

“Opponents, supporters, and those

who seek just to get on with their lives”

winning ﬁrst the Second World War and then the

Cold War.

Russia, as the successor of the USSR, was the

loser in the Cold War. And now, from the point of

view of some supporters of a special military

operation, Russia is using the right of the

strongest to regain its sovereignty, and is doing

so successfully. As with the opponents of the

special military operation, the number of

supporters is not certain. However, it is certainly

huge.

The largest percentage of the Russian

population, oddly enough, withdraw from the

events of the Ukrainian crisis. In the opinion of

many, everything in this conﬂict has become so

complicated that it is no longer possible to make

sense of it. The parties to the conﬂict present

various arguments and facts, but many of them

turn out to be false.

The problem is the growing negative attitude

towards ordinary Russians in the society of many

countries because it leads to misunderstanding

and reciprocal negativity on the part of the

Russians. The so-called “Russophobia” does no

good, raising anger only. Many ordinary citizens

of Russia admit that they cannot inﬂuence the

situation in any way, and do not understand why

they are required to take responsibility for the

actions of those whose decisions people have no

direct control over.

Thus, an overload of contradictory facts and

ideas, as well as an awareness of their own low

importance in decision-making chains, leads

people to abstract away from the events of the

Ukrainian crisis. And such people are in the

majority.

To conclude, there is a need for more research.

But it is clear that there are a lot of people who

oppose the special military for various reasons.

Many more Russians support it, based on solid

arguments.

But the majority of people are simply tired of

the continuous bad news and just try to get on

with their lives.

Artemy Dzhafarovis is pursuing a master’s degree

in international relations at the Higher School of

Economics in Moscow specialising in Celtic

nationalism and the politics of the British Isles.

INTERNATIONAL