This is how negotiations work. Putin understands that full well.
The Russian “”media” is no different their ours. It is wholly designed to be the opiate of the masses for their political master class.
Russians are some of the most nationalist people on earth. As seen in WW2, they will endure great hardship “for the Motherland”. Russia’s political masters know this and exploit it to keep internal political dissent from forming.
The bulk of the WW2 hardship for the Soviet Union occurred in Ukraine and Belarus, not in “Mother Russia”.
As seen in the ‘90s Russians will not endure and voted with thier feet massively. It’s the fear of returning to that era that motivates them most of all.
Russia’s “political masters” murder and jail to keep internal political dissent from forming. Just as their ally Marxist Democrats do in the US.
“””Russians are some of the most nationalist people on earth. As seen in WW2, they will endure great hardship “for the Motherland”.”””
People keep saying that as though they had a choice under the dictatorship of the bloodiest mass murderer in white history, who was murdering 10s of millions of them before the war and who spent the first years of the war alongside Hitler, and who when they did fight died by the millions and millions under leadership that was indifferent to their deaths.
Russians are some of the most nationalist people on earth. As seen in WW2, they will endure great hardship “for the Motherland”. Russia’s political masters know this and exploit it to keep internal political dissent from forming.
Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago : [narrating; on World War I] By the second winter, the boots had worn out... but the line still held. Even Comrade Lenin underestimated both the anguish of that 900-mile long front... as well our own cursed capacity for suffering. Half the men went into action without any arms... irregular rations... led by officers they didn’t trust.