- During the gathering with Putin, mothers asked if Russia would be besides soft to negociate if their sons had fallen,” says the author
- Russia believes that within the next decade the European Union will cease to exist. They convey this apocalyptic imagination of Europe, which is part of their interior policy — it
- Donald Trump is positively repainted in Russian media, but the United States itself is not necessarily. For example, there is simply quite a few talk about bombings and explosions in the United States, which is to show that it is an unstable and dangerous country,” says Maja Wolny
- More crucial information can be found on the Onetu homepage
It's part 2 of Bartosz Treder's interview with the reporter. They're Free about Russians. Read Part One: What the Russians think of war. Says Polka, who drove their country.
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Bartosz Treder, Onet: In many postsocialist countries, the welfare of the general is higher than that of the individual. I want to mention here to war as a higher state good. It is estimated that at least 170 000 Russian soldiers were killed on the front. Their families received advanced compensation for which they could buy apartments or good cars, but husbands, sons, grandchildren did not come home. Doesn't that affect any dissonance among the Russians and opposition to power?
Maja Wolny, a reporter: It's apparent that individually they feel deep pain after losing. In a tiny town in Siberia, I witnessed the situation erstwhile news came that a recruited boy was killed at the front and I saw what was happening in the local community. A resolution was immediately proposed to name the street after this boy. It's frequently about commemoration. The faces and names of the people who died are always on TV. This very coincides with the universal cult of a hero who will be the capital of respect and estima for the full household of the 1 who died. In Russia, this is highly valued.
I late watched Vladimir Putin's press conference with the organization of soldiers' mothers in the context of talks about the ceasefire. These women asked if Russia would be "too soft" in the negotiations erstwhile they had fallen. That's the paradox. Our logic tells us that they should want to end the war so that others don't die. It's the another way around. They want to make certain that the soldiers have not fallen “for nothing”. Since they died, we mothers suffered, it cannot be that peace will be achieved for inexpensive money.
Maja Wolny points to “ Russia's most effective weapon”. ‘He besides utilized Stalin’
How are peace talks presented to the Russians in propaganda media or in authoritative government communications?
From what I see, I feel that Europe is far more curious in these peace talks than Russia is. Of course, the subject appears there, but for them there are many another things happening. It is not that the Russians chant on the streets “the end of the war”, as we now see protests in Israel against the politics of Binjamin Netanyahu. There's no specified thing in Russia.
A fewer days ago, erstwhile peace negotiations were underway, a well-known clergyman was abruptly arrested in St. Petersburg for a 2014 photograph with the Ukrainian flag. Recently, a police officer was besides fired, who wrote a song criticizing the Ministry of the Interior, or his superior. The priest got 2 weeks in his cell for this photo, so it's inactive not adequate for Russian standards. But this is simply a clergyman, and the image is old.
Perhaps it shows the power of power that this can happen to any citizen. 2 weeks in a cell, and there's a sick parent or children at home to take care of.
These are the large cities that caught the media. All the individual tragedies you mentioned show the repressiveness of Russia. Despite all Steve Witkoff's assurances that "Putin is simply a good man", this is an authoritarian state that does what the citizens want and suppresses any manifestation of opposition. The arrest of a clergyman was most likely a threat to society on the rule of "do not imagine that you can now show any Ukrainian flags."
We besides know well that bombings and drones are inactive in Ukraine's airspace. Talks and the Russians proceed to engage in armed and interior policies to intimidate citizens. This is their most effective weapon, which Joseph Stalin besides reached for.
JIM LO SCALZO / PAPSteve Witkoff
At the moment, the Russians do not show with flags that they want peace. They truly want Crimea and another occupied regions. Even erstwhile I was talking to people who feel morally bad about the war and do not deny that aggression is something bad, they said, “This country is ours.” I do not want to generalize, but Russia is not ready for territorial concessions for various reasons. What's taken is what they want to keep. We do not know what the negotiation process will bring, but society does not encourage softness in this matter.
Maja Wolny: Russia lost quite a few citizens but gained heroes. This balance sheet for them is never negative
When the Kremlin suppressed all independent media and introduced severe penalties for citizens for their resignation, even though the word “war” led to a stronger policy of fear. Most opponents are in prisons or abroad, which deprives them of any cause. I have the impression that Putin now has no 1 of the alleged street opposition who would be spending his sleep with his eyes.
It's been a year since Navalny was killed, and the situation doesn't change. These pressures and the feeling that war is going on and any families have lost their loved ones is an argument not to end it for a tiny price. This is very bad news, adding the story of the alleged large Patriotic War, where the losses were colossal. They lost quite a few citizens, and they gained quite a few heroes. This balance sheet for Russians is never negative. That's bad news for those negotiations.
Additionally, Donald Trump's position is at least unclear. His friend and negotiator from the American side Steve Witkoff cites a referendum in occupied areas. There is simply a strong belief that people in these areas want to be part of Russia. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid everything is going that way.
Mtsh1000 / Wikimedia CommonsMay Free
Everything I saw in war Russia and the questions I asked at the time strengthen my conviction that imperial greatness, sense of mission are so strong and crucial that it dominates human losses. It is crucial that Russia is not economically bad due to the fact that sanctions do not work as they should. I was 1 of the first people to paper it from a consumer perspective.
As I traveled across Russia, I spoke to people and compared the prices of average products. Inflation for a long time was lower in Russia than in Poland. Now inflation in Russia has a higher rate, but this is not a colossal difference, which is due to the head of the Russian central bank Elvira Nabiullina. This is simply a very competent individual who perfectly copes with it, which seemed impossible erstwhile exports froze. There are besides rumors in Russia of resuming flights with the United States.
Maya Free alerts. "Trump's policy has taken Russia's shame element"
The U.S. in the Russian transmission has so far been portrayed as the top enemy. Now Vladimir Putin regularly talks to Donald Trump and agrees with him on possible peace plans, talking about economical cooperation. The Russians believe in a abrupt change from opponent to possible partner? But do they consider him a wolf in sheep's clothing?
We request to separate the US from Donald Trump's administration and have no naivety that the Russians will depart from a bipolar model that is beneficial to their policies. However, I see in the riots in Russian social media a change in the attack from America to Europe. The UK, France and the European Union are now becoming more their enemy. Now they explain this: “Great Britain preys on Ukraine and draws juice from it, and Washington does the same with London.”
Russia besides believes that within the next decade the European Union will cease to exist. They convey specified an apocalyptic imagination of Europe, which is part of their interior policy, which fits very well with current events to make the Union an anti-hero. The average Russian who watches a propaganda broadcast on tv swallows it all.
POOL SPOTTER / PAPVladimir Putin and Donald Trump in 2019.
Donald Trump's change in U.S. policy at this level took Russia's component of embarrassment. I watched him in conversations with middle-class people who were afraid to talk plainly, or were besides large beneficiaries because, for example, they worked in the budget. Fear fear, but self-interest. They said, "Yes, Ukraine is guilty of itself, the US has messed up, Russia is an outcast, we cannot fly," but it sounded like a kind of shame and regret. And now they are recovering this honor due to the fact that the number of countries that condemn Russia has decreased. It's very beneficial for them.
Previously, propaganda has made Joe Biden and the United States very ridiculous. It inactive is. Donald Trump is positively repainted in Russian media, but the United States itself is not necessarily. There is simply quite a few talk about, for example, bombings and explosions in the US, which is expected to show that it is simply a unstable and dangerous country.
Dmitry Pieskov accused Europe of a "pro-war" attitude and judged it to be contrary to the attitude of the United States and Russia. Is Russian society besides hostile to Europe and to Poland? How strong is the impact of propaganda in this area? Does not the fact that Russian citizens from the Kaliningrad region have late travelled to our country, traded with us and heard another things, origin dissonance?
Some of the hateful propaganda has been definitely shifted to Western Europe. There is surely a dissonance uncomfortable to reduce, but Russia has not been busy for a time of isolation and has refocused commercially on Asia. This fits into the global imagination that Asia is now a continent worth investing in. Europe is portrayed as a pensioner who lives to see the end of his days. This is simply a little aggressive way, due to the fact that there is inactive a message about “Gayrope” and “the band of life losers”. European leaders in Russia are very minimized and shown as losers to reduce them. They say: “Why do we request this Europe? We are an Asian country and we trade there.”
SERGEY GUNEEV/KREMLIN POOL/ SOUTH/POOL / PAPXi Jinping and Vladimir Putin
It's hard to believe in Russian media coverage, even if it's uplifted by data, but they say selling office property in Moscow and St. Petersburg is an increase of about 20 percent. They explain that Asian investors buy more and for higher prices. Russia redirects its economical interest to Asia. There was quite a few information in the media about how Russian food conquers Chinese hearts, how much they like Russian chocolate.
When I was in Russia, they kept asking me about the deficiency of sugar in Europe, due to the fact that that's what the media said. Now there's an egg shock wave. They say there are no eggs in the European Union. They laughter very much at the European climate arrangements and say that by adapting to emanation standards production of poultry farms has fallen so much that in practice there are no eggs. We know it's all fake news, but they believe it. Russia besides proudly says that it is the second richest country in the world's freshwater resources. They say: “Who has actual wealth? We do. You are afraid of climate change due to the fact that you have no resources.” This is simply a simple argument that goes to people in Russia.
The worse the Russians get with the West, the better with China. It's just a small matrimony by reason.
Yeah, that's a very good metaphor. And this matrimony by reason can be said to prosper.
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Dr. Maja Wolny — Polish writer, author of novels, reports, theatre plays, exhibition curator. Doctor of Humanities Sciences, postgraduate of the Faculty of Polish Studies and Faculty of Journalism and Political Sciences of the University of Warsaw. She studied in Krakow, Warsaw and Brussels. As 1 of the few, she traveled across Russia after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, as described in the book “Train to the Empire. Travels in modern Russia". In January 2023 she was detained at the Polish-Belarusian border and received a 20-year ban on entry into Belarus, which was issued by the Russian Federation authorities.
