The New Moral Resistance to Putin
Relearning a Soviet-Era Art Amid Repression and War
Moscow is still reeling from Ukraine’s surprise incursion into western Russia earlier this month. More than 130,000 people have fled or been evacuated from the territory that Ukraine now controls. And this week, Russia began withdrawing some of its troops from Ukraine to help contain the damage. It remains unclear how this Ukrainian offensive will alter the course of the war, but it is already undermining the Kremlin’s narrative that victory is inevitable.
“For this regime, indifference is the main tool to maintain a high level of support for Putin and his war,” Russian journalist Andrei Kolesnikov told Foreign Affairs’ podcast in January. Russian society is “in a state of conformist apathy,” he wrote in a May essay. But even within this “apathetic crowd,” there are people “who are burning up on the inside with shame at what has happened to their beloved country, at the impenetrable indifference and docility of the others.” Ukraine’s surprise attack could deepen these feelings and make it more difficult for Moscow to sustain such widespread public indifference to the war.
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3 个月It does not detract from the fact that APATHY CHARACTERIZES RUSSIAN OPINION
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3 个月Foreign Affairs Magazine As much as I appreciate this article: from my point of view, there always were strong & brave Russians, who did not accept the way Putin ruled & transformed their country. Some more, some less famous examples were always there. That’s the kind of civil courage, I deeply respect & admire. Do you agree?