The Russian regime keeps the people behind the war only through lies and coercion – and that is why it is already beginning to resemble totalitarianism, writes correspondent Erkka Mikkonen.
14.3. 12:26 • Updated March 14. 12:35
MOSCOW Muscovites queued up yesterday Sunday for a U.S. fast food venue that closed its doors in Russia at midnight for the time being.
In front of the first McDonalds in the Soviet Union, I met the Russians who had come to say goodbye to it. They also queued here as children when the same burger venue opened more than 30 years ago.
– Then this meant opening up to the world and now it tells about the opposite process. It is really sad, Jura and Nadja said.
Numerous other foreign companies have also suspended their operations in Russia.
At the same time, Russia itself has blocked the access of its citizens to many websites and platforms. As of today, Instagram, a widely used image service by Russians, is also closed.
The comparison to Soviet times no longer seems very distant.
They were also appealed to by the President Vladimir Putinwhen he met with an authoritarian leader in Belarus on Friday Alexander Lukashenko.
The Kremlin – and all the TV propaganda that is drumming its message – is now trying to downplay the impact of the sanctions. At the same time, it seeks to blur the link between sanctions and Russian hostilities.
The Russians are reassured that the West would have invented the reasons for the country’s economic actions in any case. The sanctions will also be turned into evidence of the West’s hatred of Russia, thus justifying the country’s own hostilities.
The real attitude of the Russians towards the war it is difficult to measure reliably.
When the war of aggression launched by Russia is spoken of as a “special operation to defend eastern Ukraine” or “a necessary measure to prevent a major war,” most seem to accept it.
As information on the numbers of victims and the actual course of the war spreads, resistance will only increase. Even as the effectiveness of sanctions intensifies, fewer and fewer people may no longer be indifferent to their country’s hostilities.
Time is playing a war started by Putin against.
The Kremlin and the machinery of violence it maintains now look overwhelming. Fast turns are still possible.
The administration’s fear of a change in citizens ’attitudes is reflected in the tens of thousands of police officers assigned to patrol Russian city centers. They seek to quell all protests.
Journalists are being harassed because the Kremlin also wants to block news of opposition to the war.
So the Putin regime is trying to intimidate the Russians shut up.
The Kremlin knows that the people can be kept behind the war only through coercion and lies.
This is also confirmed by a researcher at the Carnegie Center in Moscow Andrei Kolesnikov. According to him, Russia is already beginning to resemble a totalitarian system when anti-war protests are completely blocked and everyone is forced to accept the same opinion.
– Those who think differently are declared enemies of the state. It’s about the methods of a totalitarian state, Kolesnikov says in a telephone interview with .
Last week, the Russian Duma passed a law on the creation of a unified register. It is to compile all the information on the persons, organizations and media declared to be “foreign agents” and the people who work with them.
The Russians are confused in recent weeks events.
The retired lady who last visited McDonalds also wondered about the situation. Still, like many others, he has yet to open his eyes to reality.
– We always support our administration, but of course we are against the war, the retired woman said with certainty.
Before long, however, more and more Russians will have to choose between the two.
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