What Do the Russian People think about Putin’s Invasion?
Image Courtesy of Evgeniy Ivanov at Financial Times
By: Daniel Formella
On February 24, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Yulia Zhivtsova, a Russian citizen who lives near Moscow, was detained and taken to a police station after reading her Harry Potter books in Pushkin Square. Why was she arrested for reading about the world of wizardry? One of her books, which is a Hufflepuff edition, had a yellow cover. The other, a Ravenclaw edition, had a blue cover. Combined, they resembled the Ukrainian flag.
Zhivtsova remarked that “Even if you post something like, ‘Please go out and protest against the war,’ you can go to jail.”
Russia shocked the world when President Vladimir Putin ordered the “special military operation” in an attempt to overthrow the democratically-elected Ukrainian government. Since the start of the war, more than 13,000 anti-war protesters across 147 cities have been arrested in Russia between February 24 and March 6. Of those arrested, 5,000 were detained on March 6 alone. The Russian government has also blocked access to Twitter and Facebook in an attempt to stop “fake news” from reaching its citizens. Additionally, Putin passed new legislation that allowed for prison sentences of up to 15 years for people convicted of spreading unfavorable information about Russian forces.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet stated that she was “concerned about the use of repressive legislation that impedes the exercise of civil and political rights and criminalizing nonviolent behavior.”
Nevertheless, the widespread international backlash against the arrests of demonstrators and censorship of anti-war media may not be indicative of how the majority of Russians view Putin’s actions at home and abroad. According to polling data from VTsIOM, a state pollster, the Russian president’s approval rating actually rose to 70% the week of the beginning of the war. While there must naturally be a grain of salt taken with state polling data, there are other signs of domestic support for Putin. On March 4, the heads of 250 Russian universities published a statement calling on Russians to support Putin and justify the invasion. Some Ukrainian civilians have also reported that their Russian relatives do not believe them when told of Russian bombing of neighborhoods and cities.
The infamous letter “Z” that has been painted on Russian military vehicles and tanks is no longer restricted to the battlefield. The letter now represents support for Russian troops and the war, and it has been seen on billboards and T-shirt merchandise. On one occasion, Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak taped a Z onto his sporting uniform that was visible while he was standing on the medal podium next to Illia Kovtun, a Ukrainian gymnast, at a competition in Qatar. His head coach and some other Russian gymnasts publicly defended Kuliak. At the competition, Kovtun won the gold medal while Kuliak only received the bronze.
While there may not be a fully accurate way of measuring support in an authoritarian state during wartime, it does not appear that the unquestionable majority of the Russian population is staunchly opposed to the military invasion of Ukraine despite some brave protestors.
