Putin’s Brutality Won’t Last Long
Russian people will soon wake up to reality
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, people in Russia are shocked to see that Putin — who’s always maintained a cool and calm demeanor — has brought their country into war. And of course, they strongly condemn his decision to invade Ukraine.
Many have expressed neither joy nor praise for Putin’s actions. But people who strongly disagree with his actions can’t do anything about it, other than voice their protests. No matter how hard they try to plead with Putin, they can’t stop his authoritarianism. He’s got too many influential people on his side — rich Russian elite and oligarchs — who’ve given him their loyal support.
During all the years since he first became a president in 2000 with an interruption between 2008–2012 when Medvedev was president, he’s been building support for his authoritarian regime. And when he made a decision to invade Ukraine, he’s been all but lying to his Russian people to justify his aggression. It’s all too easy to fall into a false sense of reality when every media channel in Russia is feeding people false narratives.
Putin wants to make Russian people lift him on a pedestal and approve his every move. And how does he do it? By spreading propaganda to the Russian people.
On media channels in Russia, they promote the narrative that it’s Ukraine that’s responsible for dragging Russia into war, not Putin.
He wants to instill the message into Russian people that Ukrainians are an enemy of the Russian people and that for Russia, Ukraine poses a severe threat. This is so that he can get as much support from the Russian public as possible.
And now following the invasion, they continue to air anti-Ukrainian sentiments on the Russian media channels. They want Russians to believe that Ukrainians are their “enemy” to justify the war.
The underlying message he drills to the Russian people is that the reason for the invasion is that he wants to “demilitarize” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine. He tells them that he wants to control the right-wing Ukrainian nationalist that supposedly posed danger to the country. As if Ukrainian people are Nazis by nature.
These are pure lies intended to mislead Russian people.
But despite all this, no matter how many media channels spread the propaganda about Putin hailing as a hero and justifying his actions, there will be a percentage of people within the Russian population who will refuse to buy into his propaganda. Not everyone will trust the media 100 percent — there will be some who will take the information they’ve been fed with a grain of salt.
Eventually, the truth will prevail, and the Russian people will know better what’s true and what’s not. Tolerance of Putin’s brutal actions won’t last for long. All the malicious lies that Putin has been feeding them will be unveiled. And I’m pretty sure that soon his own people will start condemning his actions.
For example, people who took to the streets to protest Putin’s actions in the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg obviously refuse to believe the narrative that the Russian-owned media has been feeding them.
We saw demonstrators marching with banners that read: “Ukraine — peace, Russia — freedom.” And it’s not just the people on the streets who are protesting; dozens of journalists also signed an open letter voicing their opposition to the war.
And as more and more people will start waking up to reality and realize they’ve been lied to, more will stand up against Putin. And as they show their opposition, popular support for Putin may wane in time.
Of course, it won’t be an overnight process, but people, except those within his inner circle like Russian oligarchs, won’t be sold to his imbecility and brutality.
Moreover, once his country experiences the pain of sanctions imposed by the US and NATO, many people will turn around and start questioning Putin’s leadership.
We just have to wait and see.
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