How does that contradict what I said? You conflate Russian government and rulers (the „Russian regime“), and the population who happen to live or originate from there with no say in any of it („Russians“), all into one. That creates confusion and misunderstandings. You are making it appear as if it’s right and just to punish the population, and support their regime in isolating them from the world.
Also, you may want to look at the definition of „gaslighting“, where you create another confusion by applying it to this context.
I think he mistook your "Russia didn't start the war" as an attempt to blame Ukraine, whereas you were trying do distance population from the government. Nevertheless, that's wrong.
Yeah right because when someone calls people and asks effectively "do you support the war or do you want to go to jail" you totally get data that is not skewed in any way whatsoever.
Being openly against the war is literally illegal.
In short, speculationg how people "really" think is pointless if they support the war in words and actions. Actions shape the world, not innermost thoughts that are never revealed to anyone. Your anti-war thoughts are worthless if you show up at a munitions factory every morning and produce artillery shells all day long.
> Yeah right because when someone calls people and asks effectively "do you support the war or do you want to go to jail" you totally get data that is not skewed in any way whatsoever.
That line of argument is old and tired and debunked. We also have witnessed in Europe the sad spectacle that is Russian diasporas throwing protests in support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and repeated violent attacks from Russian expats targeting Ukrainian refugees.
Hate to have to point this out - but not only is this a complete non-story (just from first principles) -- but the piece you're quoting is itself is basically a standard tabloid-style scare article. I mean, just look at the title, will you:
Russians Are Hunting Down Ukrainian Refugees in Heart of NATO
That in itself should clue you into to the article's primary purpose -- not to provide useful information, but to keep you titillated by "that awful shiny thing over there", and inevitably wanting more, more, more.
But it actually gets worse from there. Quoting Bild (a real-life, old school tabloid), when in all probability they could have connected with any of the fine regional papers up there, should have been another major red flag. Oh and did you try reading and breaking down the actual 3 stories it cites to support its grand thesis? Pop quiz - do they even pertain to the article's actual substantive claim? (Answer: the headline story doesn't apply at all; the second does (but it's an isolated incident with 1 confirmed perpetrator); and the last one does but only partially, as it obviously conflates with an entirely different issue).
That's all it is, this article -- just adrenaline-pumping garbage. All rather harrowing what happened to the victims identified, and maybe there is something nefarious happening in Slovakia -- but articles like these just aren't useful go-to sources for any sense of what's really happening in the large.
They exist simply to distract, distract, distract.
And even if it was true, that opinion would simply be an indicator of the success of government propaganda. (Lies and myths and skewed narratives, not to be confused with gaslighting.)
Russians in Europe - where they have excellent access to free media and are under no such pressure - hold similar views, toned down due to public stigma. They refuse to condemn the war, blame it on Ukrainians, etc. A significant number of people refuse to answer the questions at all; this is something that Levada stresses does not happen with their surveys in Russia.
Yes and now how do you get Russians in Russia to change their mind? By punishing and isolating them, or by inviting them over to talk to them? That was the original point regarding sanctions.
Vladimir Zolkin is an Ukrainian journalist who has recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with Russian POWs and published them on Youtube. He started in the first weeks of the war and is still going. By now he's probably interviewed over a thousand of them. These are long interviews, in depth, usually up to an hour or even more, including POWs' calls home and interviewing their relatives too if they agree. According to his own words, he has entirely given up trying to "change their mind". These are just completely brainwashed people, incapable of independent thought, apathetic like zombies, automatically repeating instilled thoughts as soon as certain keywords are hit. Change will only come when they are replaced by a new generation that is free of this programming. Until then, the best course of action for us is to build a tall wall between us and hope that they won't attempt to drive a tank through it.
What you are pointing at is nothing new. Naive attempts to "build bridges" with people who see bridges only as an easy way of driving a tank over to us is how we got here in the first place:
Misguided attempts to build relations with countries run by criminal gangs have made no positive impact on them, but have poisoned us by opening up our politics, businesses, and other areas of life to their criminal networks.
Also, you may want to look at the definition of „gaslighting“, where you create another confusion by applying it to this context.