Posted on Mar 27, 2022
Russians who live abroad say Moscow is hardening views of those back home
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Daria Leshchenko said a close friend, a progressive in Moscow who fought for women’s rights in Russia, doesn’t speak to her anymore.
Despite their hours-long discussions about their home country’s invasion of Ukraine over the past few weeks, Leshchenko said she was shocked when her friend recently posted a message of support for President Vladimir Putin on social media and stopped responding.
Leshchenko, 24, works in London now but kept in touch with peers prior to the war. Since the invasion began, those dynamics have changed and relationships have started to unravel, she said.
“I don’t have many friends back in Russia to talk to anymore after these weeks, and I had plenty of them before,” she said.
That is a challenge for a growing number of Russian expatriates living in the West.
Despite their hours-long discussions about their home country’s invasion of Ukraine over the past few weeks, Leshchenko said she was shocked when her friend recently posted a message of support for President Vladimir Putin on social media and stopped responding.
Leshchenko, 24, works in London now but kept in touch with peers prior to the war. Since the invasion began, those dynamics have changed and relationships have started to unravel, she said.
“I don’t have many friends back in Russia to talk to anymore after these weeks, and I had plenty of them before,” she said.
That is a challenge for a growing number of Russian expatriates living in the West.
Russians who live abroad say Moscow is hardening views of those back home
Posted from nbcnews.com
Russia
Ukraine
Vladimir Putin
Posted 2 y ago
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I have previously shared my desire for insight by asking a Russian friend about what was going on. She has a sister who still lives in Russia. Based on her feedback the lasy is not the only one befuddled by what is going on and its side effects
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."In the wake of Putin calling Russians who live abroad “scum” and “traitors” in a speech last week, conversations they manage to have with relatives and friends back home have grown tense, or they avoid the topic of the war altogether. Numerous Russians have fled the country as a result of the invasion and the crackdown, probably for good, but the views of those still in Russia have hardened in support of the Kremlin, as years of anti-West propaganda get cemented in the country’s new reality.
Leshchenko said talking to friends back home is increasingly difficult as the Kremlin takes further hold of the media and lines of communication. Those who haven’t fled the country refuse to talk to her about the conflict, blame the West and the U.S., or say they may not like the war, but they feel they must support the regime and the military.
Another friend of Leshchenko's in Russia, who never shared an interest in politics before, asked her about the West’s views and seemed curious to learn more. But then the friend argued that Russian attacks, such as the bombardment of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, were staged by the West. She insisted the woman photographed by The Associated Press being evacuated from the hospital was a prostitute and wore makeup to look as though she was in a bombing — a recent line of Russian propaganda. "...
..."In the wake of Putin calling Russians who live abroad “scum” and “traitors” in a speech last week, conversations they manage to have with relatives and friends back home have grown tense, or they avoid the topic of the war altogether. Numerous Russians have fled the country as a result of the invasion and the crackdown, probably for good, but the views of those still in Russia have hardened in support of the Kremlin, as years of anti-West propaganda get cemented in the country’s new reality.
Leshchenko said talking to friends back home is increasingly difficult as the Kremlin takes further hold of the media and lines of communication. Those who haven’t fled the country refuse to talk to her about the conflict, blame the West and the U.S., or say they may not like the war, but they feel they must support the regime and the military.
Another friend of Leshchenko's in Russia, who never shared an interest in politics before, asked her about the West’s views and seemed curious to learn more. But then the friend argued that Russian attacks, such as the bombardment of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, were staged by the West. She insisted the woman photographed by The Associated Press being evacuated from the hospital was a prostitute and wore makeup to look as though she was in a bombing — a recent line of Russian propaganda. "...
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Info has been controlled since V. I. Lenin took over from Tsar Nicholas II. Why should anything change. Russian people just traded one despot for another. Totalitarianism always has to control info. So they can better control their minions.
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