Notes

What do ordinary Russians really Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies
Residents feel abandoned and angry in the little frontier town of Shebekino, where cross-border shelling has become a daily reality. If they are troubled by Russia bombing a city where many have friends and relatives, then they're trying not to show it. International sanctions have not brought Russia to the brink of 1990s-style economic collapse. But, as Belfast-based Russian academic Aleksandr Titov has observed, Russia is nonetheless living through a crisis.


Phillips P OBrien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, wrote in an analysis piece that the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House could see the US "neuter" the Western military alliance. “I’m scared and hurt for my friends in Ukraine, who write to me ‘we’re going down into the bomb shelter’. The protesters trickle along smaller streets, following location updates from dedicated Telegram channels.

Finns vote in tight presidential race amid 'hybrid operation' claims
The first, a blitzkrieg to capture Kyiv, failed within the first month. The second, the seemingly inevitable offensive, stalled in the summer and was abandoned in early September following the success of Ukraine’s counter-offensive. In the third version, the Russian motherland has been declared in danger and hundreds of thousands of men are being drafted to fight. The “partial mobilisation” declared by Vladimir Putin on September 21st looks like forced improvisation and it is disrupting the balance of interests and loyalties in Russian society, where views on the war are very mixed. Volkov says these polls are conducted face-to-face, and people are assured of anonymity. Still, he notes, the survey results reveal at least as much about what people are willing to say in public than about how they truly feel.


For most Russians, television remains the main source of the news. It is firmly controlled by the Kremlin and pumps out relentless war propaganda. Ukrainians are said to shell their own cities, and Russian troops are presented as liberators. "The rouble (Russia's currency) will fall and people will have it really bad. So this must be avoided. It is not people's fault, but it will be ordinary people who will be hit," he said. Going to war is one of Russians’ greatest fears, according to the Levada Center, an independent pollster. 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.

Opinion
It was the same in 2014, with his decision to annex Crimea. I’m against the war, and most of my friends and people I know feel the same way. These are mostly people around my age with the same level of education.


Many of the Ukrainian writers at the forum also expressed similar sentiments. In a panel I moderated, the Ukrainian historian and author Olena Stiazhkina began her remarks by expressing her gratitude to the Ukrainian armed forces for their defense of the homeland. “We’re all living on credit given to us by the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” she said. “Not just us but all of Europe is living on this credit.” She added, “I want to mark my position as someone lacking objectivity. “Everyone has their own opinion but in general, I believe that children and teenagers should not directly express an ardent point of view about politics, and about the special military operation.


Another potential threat could come from anti-war politicians, whom Kremlin propagandists might seek to incite. However, don’t expect to see Jeremy Corbyn being carted off straight away. In extremis, a wartime government could inter anyone deemed a threat to public order or the war effort. Even so, the messages made for some jarring moments for some of those present, featuring as they often did ultra-patriotic and sometimes militaristic declarations.


On one hand, it’s affected everyone – psychologically, economically, and in many other ways. And on the other hand, I understand that we could be hurt if we did something to try and change it. People are arrested for even walking around the area where a protest was scheduled. When I think about the conflict, I feel anxious, sad, and frustrated.

People get used even to war, especially if they live far from the battleground. When I hear it from Ukrainian people, I begin to doubt that our president’s strategy is wrong. Since Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula and backed militants in the eastern Donbas region in 2014, there's been no real let-up in fighting, cyber-attacks and misinformation. But everyone who wants to participate can easily find out about it.
"A frank and constructive dialogue is expected to improve relations between states," the Ukrainian president's office said on its official channel on the Telegram messaging app alongside a photo of Mr Szijjarto, Mr Kuleba and Mr Yermak. This could see states like Poland and the Baltics decide to aid Ukraine on their own, which "might leave NATO's eastern front vulnerable and cause a crisis within the EU and European NATO". If the US abandons the military alliance, it will fall to European countries to ensure a Ukrainian victory, Mr OBrien says. A prominent war expert has warned the US is on the verge of diminishing its support for or even withdrawing from NATO - and this could have catastrophic consequences for Europe. Hungary has signalled it is ready to compromise on EU funding for Ukraine - after Brussels reportedly prepared to sabotage its economy if it did not comply.

Sanctions have targeted banks, oil refineries, military and luxury product exports as well as members of the Russian regime and oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin. … The media gives only authorized information, and the [country at large] 'absorbs’ losses,” she explained. When President Boris Yeltsin's government defaulted on its debt in 1998 those who'd been sleeping on their money felt vindicated. In his mobilisation speech on September 21st, Mr Putin used choice rhetoric of the party of total war to persuade Russian citizens of the enemy’s proximity and the need to defend the motherland.
Although Ukraine is a much smaller country, it is strong patriotically. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is just another man who has been in power too long. One person shouldn’t be in power for a long time, all this power twists and corrupts people.

Ukrainians held a positive view of the Russian people throughout this period and only turned against the Russian state and its president in 2014 in response to Putin’s aggression. One is peddled by the best-known talk-show hosts who tell viewers that the “special operation” is part of Russia’s total and existential war with the West—which is, of course, hell-bent on obliterating Russia. But by Monday customers of Russia's biggest state-backed bank, Sberbank, told BBC Russian they could not order cash via the app at all - they had to go to its office and sign a form to do so. Recently, Ukraine's winter offensive seems to have come to a halt. Now, any anti-war speech can result in up to 15 years of imprisonment.
But now time has passed, it’s become obvious that no positive outcomes are to be expected. Already residents in Moscow are reporting some queues in food stores as people buy goods they think will be in short supply due to price rises or trade restrictions. Dollars and euros began running out within a couple of hours of the invasion. Since then, very limited amounts of those currencies have been available and there is a cap on how many roubles you can withdraw. Over https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-doesnt-russia-want-ukraine-in-nato.html appealed for calm amid fears of a run on the banks, which happens when too many people try to withdraw money. The sanctions now hitting Russia are being described as economic war - they aim to isolate the country and create a deep recession there.

She supports our president, despite the fact that her whole family is still over there. When I hear it from Ukrainian people, I begin to doubt that our president’s strategy is wrong. Maybe Putin and his people know more and it’s really all justified. I can’t even really tell why they believe what they believe.

My Website: https://euronewstop.co.uk/why-doesnt-russia-want-ukraine-in-nato.html