That’s a fair point. It is also something that people in democratic countries don’t fully appreciate.

I think you overestimate how many people in russia do not stand against putin because they are afraid of the consequences. It’s definitely true that it happens, but it’s not really relevant in the bigger scale of things.

Unfortunately, a strong majority (at the very least) do support putin specifically, his authoritarianism and genocidal imperialism. And this is not limited to specific demographic segments. They may not openly act as rabid chauvinists (although there are tens of millions who do), but they are fundamentally aligned with the putin, his regime, his goals and his methods. For them it’s a fair price for their own comfort (both material and existential).

And what further muddies the waters is that among those who oppose putin, many actually support his imperialist agenda (e.g. Navalniy and his team who supported the annexation of Crimea until 2022 when they forced to change their position since they were kicked out of the country).

The whole framing of tens of millions of russians being stuck between a rock and a hard place is incorrect. Even those who claim they are for peace are really looking to consolidate their current occupational gains (with continued atrocities and eradication of Ukrainian identity).

but claiming someone in Russia who doesn’t stand against Putin is “complicit” in the war is rough.

An alternative viewpoint from someone who has lived in North America and russia for a decade (and speaks both russian and English).

Most Westerners have a pretty primitive and naive understanding of russian culture; you will note how even seemingly reputable analysts that consult senior US diplomatic figures speak in broken russian.

Westerners greatly underestimate the extent to which genocidal imperialism is supported within russian society. Not every single person of course. We are talking strong majority to overwhelming majority support that goes across multiple demographic segments (even ones you wouldn’t think would have majority support like younger cohorts or highly educated cohorts).

Consider the annexation of Crimea, which if you live in Ukraine, was the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. 80-85% support depending on methodology (just a few percentage point delta when using list experiments vs. direct questions).

And don’t be naive in thinking that russian society does not recognize the genocidal intent. They most definitely know that Ukrainian is banned, Ukrainian churches are banned, you cannot do anything without getting a russian passport. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians who have the courage to openly oppose this regime are sent to torture dungeons where electrocution torture, cutting off genitals, cutting off fingers, rape, is all a standard procedure.

And russians society knows this, yet they continue to strongly support the invasion and occupation of Ukraine, Georgia (how many russians protested the 2008 invasion?) and Moldova.

Now one might say I am de-humanizing russians. To that I will answer that I am actually treating them as adults that make their own choices and should take responsibility for their actions. There is nothing inherent (in a biological or some sort of cultural essentialism sense) to russian culture that enables imperialism to makes propaganda “uniquely” effective. It’s a conscious choice made unfortunately by at least a strong majority of russian society.

This is not directly aimed at you, more of a general comment regarding naive and honestly uneducated takes on the nature of russian society.