War has cost 47,000 Russian lives and plunged the economy into deep recession. Totalitarianism, meanwhile, is turbo-charged. Opposition rallies, parties and independent media have all been silenced. Anti-war demonstrators were thrown in prison. Homophobia is on the increase. LGBT ‘propaganda’ is now illegal. And Putin reigns supremely popular. 82% of Russians express approval - according to the independent Levada Center. 68% believe that Russia is moving in the right direction.
How did Russia become so warmongering, conservative and authoritarian? It wasn’t like this in the 1990s and 2000s. So why has it changed?
In “Putin vs. the People”, Samuel Greene and Graeme Robertson suggest the annexation of Crimea triggered a groundswell of national pride. Russians rallied for the flag. They saw Putin more positively, turned a blind-eye to corruption, and even became more economically optimistic. This motivated wider conformity and social policing. Seizing on geopolitical glory and newfound loyalty, Putin then tightened the screws.
Mid-way reading this tremendous book, a Russian friend remarked to me,
“Sam’s Russian is so good that when I first met him in Moscow in 2011 I thought I made a mistake and approached some Russian dude not a scholar from the US!”.
