Musicians had a particularly hard time of it, certainly those accustomed to playing before sweaty crowds keen on dancing, something very much forbidden for much of the time. So when the Belgian rock band, Demisec, were offered a gig, they jumped at the chance. The bassist and BBC cameraman Maarten Lernout did not mind that they were being asked to play in a local prison. Online, most independent news websites are blocked or restricted, and so are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-many-troops-does-ukraine-have.html that the majority of Russians tune in to TV news means they are inclined to at least hear the Kremlin's message - and possibly believe it. But many in Russia would be taken by surprise if war was to start soon.
Russia's defence budget has tripled since 2021 and will consume 30% of government spending next year. For democracies, long-term consensus in support for war has always been more complicated than for autocrats with no accountability. We asked three military analysts how they think events may unfold in the coming 12 months. And as Russia's war in Ukraine continues, the U.S. and other Western allies are hitting it with more economic sanctions.
Russians make Thailand a refuge as Ukraine war enters second year
It’s not that she doesn’t know alternative information is out there, but that she doesn’t want it, lest her vision of the world come under threat. “It’s not about having to reconsider this one event but everything you thought and understood over the last ten or fifteen years,” Volkov told me. On some level, the data likely reflect an impulse, whether born of fear or passivity, to repeat approved messages rather than articulate your own. Even before the war, Russia was not the kind of place where you willy-nilly shared your political beliefs with strangers, let alone with those who called out of the blue. According to recent opinion polls, conducted by pollsters such as the Levada Centre which has offices in Moscow, 70-75% of respondents in Russia support the war with Ukraine.
- Right now, they are relatively safe, but it’s a constant worry for my family.
- Being far away from them helps because we try to prioritise keeping our relationship intact and caring for each other more than anything.
- I got a government email saying that we had until March 14 to download all files from Instagram.
- The logistics of training a “Citizen Army” are also formidable, according to one former Territorial Army (TA) soldier.
- The decline in manufacturing means there are far fewer factories that can be converted to make arms, as happened in the Second World War, when car makers churned out Spitfire parts.
- In a written response to questions, she said that despite the self-censorship, pollsters "can usually have higher confidence in the reliability of poll findings that show some fluctuation over time."
That the Kremlin was right to block the majority of independent media sites they used to read. In Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border and just 80km (50 miles) from the now war-torn city of Kharkiv, local people are now used to convoys of military trucks roaring towards the front line. He points out that our digital networks are mainly cellular in structure, making it almost impossible to wipe them all at once. True Russian cyberwarfare capabilities have proved something of a damp squib in Ukraine. Far from crippling the entire national infrastructure, the worst they are known to have done is briefly disrupt power and mobile phone networks.
Russia unnerved by drone attacks blamed on Ukraine
"We must understand that polls show us not what people really think or really believe, but what they want to share," he says. Volkov found that some 80% of respondents do support the military, but that group is by no means a monolith. He says about 50% have "definite support" without any qualms, but the other 30% have support with reservations. A couple walk in front of the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower and St Basil's cathedral in downtown Moscow. While 80% of poll respondents say they support Russia's military, some have mixed feelings. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
- And after Mr. Putin’s angry speech and his cryptic televised meeting with his Security Council on Monday, Russians realized that possibility was lurching closer toward becoming reality.
- Then, as now, except for a few missile attacks, Lviv is probably one of the safest places to be in Ukraine, far from the front lines in the east and the south.
- But the war’s relentless destruction also poses a more existential question, one which fuels an urgent need to resist and prevail.
That’s despite a backdrop of unceasing vitriol directed toward Ukraine on state television, and the persistent, oft-repeated idea that it is external attacks that require Russia to take defensive measures. By that, he means that those who were most connected to the outside world might have been less inclined to support Putin's military operation, but now find themselves cut off from the West. That means they're on conflicting sides — and feel the shunning of Russia most of all. Even if cyberattacks didn’t wipe out Netflix, wartime Britons would still face a life without luxuries. While the Channel has long been the country’s greatest defence, it makes it hard to import in times of war. As well as curbs on foreign consumer goods, there’d be runs on more basic products like medical kits, fuel canisters and masking tape to stop windows shattering during bombing raids.
What Russians think of the war in Ukraine, according to an independent pollster
You don’t know when your friends and family will be taken away for mobilisation. I’m afraid they will announce a full mobilisation and take everyone. “Since we lived in Russia, the war affected us quite a lot. My mother and I were very afraid for our lives, so the decision was made to leave. Some teenagers have been arrested for sabotaging railways, sharing anti-war memes on social media, and taking part in peace rallies – although actual criminal charges for under-18s are relatively rare.
Ukrainian citizens—unlike Russians—distinguish between Russian leaders and state institutions, which three-quarters of them abhor, and the Russian people, whom a majority of Ukrainians continue to view positively. Even those who did agree to answer the questions in Miniailo’s survey displayed a heightened level of fear and discomfort. One man in his fifties said, “It is now prohibited by law to answer what you think about this topic. “For me, the special military operation is a stage that must be passed – whether there should be an intrusion into so many lives is another matter.
- Not surprisingly, the major shift in opinion took place after 2014.
- In Russia, state-run newspapers and media outlets blame the West for aggression, mirroring the Kremlin's language.
- A Ukrainian soldier from the 68th Brigade on Tuesday in a trench 500 yards from Russian positions in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region.Credit...
- A little earlier, we told you about a report in the Financial Times that the EU was proposing to sabotage Hungary's economy if Budapest blocks further aid for Ukraine this week.
- Koneva said initially, when Russians heard about the damage and losses suffered by Ukrainians, Russian people looked more critically at the reason the Ukrainians were suffering.