War in Ukraine
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Acceptance, denial, self-censorship… The specialist in post-Soviet societies analyzes the different reactions of a muzzled population faced with a war often perceived as “necessary”.
For Anna Colin Lebedev, lecturer at Paris-Nanterre, specialist in post-Soviet societies, he is currently “impossible to know the level of actual membership” of the Russians to the actions of their army in Ukraine. Faced with official propaganda, Western sanctions or the return of soldiers’ coffins, a “multitude” of reactions and “different positions”.
At the very beginning of the war, you explain in Release that the Kremlin was going “having to row to build euphoria” popular around his actions in Ukraine. Two and a half months later, are the Russians euphoric? Or conversely, rather apathetic about the situation?
Neither. It would be wrong to say that the Russians are overwhelmingly “this”, or overwhelmingly “that”. But what is certain is that there is an expression of support from the Russian population for the events in Ukraine. One can not deny it. The question is, among other things, what exactly are they supporting? Behind an affirmation of support, or the repetition of a pro-war slogan, there can be a multitude of different postures. Unofficial opinion polls estimate that…