[kiryandil]

It could even have become attractive as a place anti-woke people, say, could have seen as a refuge. Christian communities, German homeschoolers, Rhodesian and South African farmers, etc. Maybe more of the disaffected from Euro-American culture.

Dude - they're Russians.

Asking a bit much, aren't you?

[buwaya]

Not at all.
Thinking this sort of thing is “a bit much” IS the Russian problem, in a nutshell. Its a defect of psychology.

I’ve always thought “How to Win Friends and Influence Poeple”, Dale Carnegie, should be required reading in the Russian nomenklatura. They need this very very badly.

Back in the day, with the aid of communist ideology, the Soviets did much, much better. They did favors, they sucked up to “agents of influence”, they gave free trips with caviar, the sent the Bolshoi off to places for free, they gave out scholarships, you name it.

[buwaya]

Heck, they could have even given “Bald and Bankrupt” an award for his PR efforts in humanizing Russia. Given him the keys to Petersburg or something. Gestures work.

[buwaya]

The most effective PR move Putin ever did was to finance “global warming” activists in the West. That has certainly helped reduce western competition for oil and gas. But that was not an effort Russia ever admitted to, or ever tried to use to burnish its image among such factions in the West.

This was a strictly operational, unfriendly move vs western countries, that nobody on either side wants to openly admit to, because it would embarrass “greens” in the West, by association, and expose Russia as hypocritical.