Over 1,000 Companies Have Curtailed Operations in Russia— Putin Invaded to Distract People and to Take Pressure Off His Bad Performance..

Putin’s war has ruined Russia’s reputation abroad. Russia has effectively been cut off from the civilized world, with its own citizens trapped inside with little ability to escape. Economic and technology sanctions are already being felt, with the return of long lines, empty shelves, and the double-digit inflation of our past—a menacing combination of Russia’s troubles in both the 1980s and 1990s. Contrary to many Western interpretations, a significant number of Russians do not support the war.

It is utterly wrong and unprofessional for experts to cite government-orchestrated “opinion polls” that show supposedly overwhelmingly Russian support for the war. While it is true that a sizeable segment of Russian society backs the war, especially Russians who get their news only from state television, we also know that since the invasion pollsters have confronted an unprecedented number of respondents who refuse to answer questions about the war. (Why would they refuse to answer if they support the war?) Journalists who interviewed people attending staged pro-Putin rallies—including the notorious March 18 prowar rally at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, where Putin himself appeared—found that many did not support the war, and had been forced to attend the events. Alexei Navalny’s YouTube channel, Navalny Live—which broadcasts the truth about Putin’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine—attracted almost 20 million unique viewers during the first month of the war, a great majority of them from within Russia.

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