Since the undeclared Russian invasion on the territory of Ukraine, the attitude of Ukrainians toward Russians on one side and of Russians towards Ukrainians of the other has become significantly worse.
Starting February, the amount of positive attitudes among Ukrainians toward Russia has decreased from 78% to 52% in May. The amount of Ukrainians who regard Russia negatively has grown almost threefold – not there are 38%, say the results of the survey conducted by the Ukrainian KMIS and Russian Levada-Centre.
In Russia the amount of positive attitudes among Russians toward Ukraine has fallen almost threefold: there is only one-third of all the Russian population now. Half of Russians have negative regard for Ukrainians – in the winter, only one fourth of the citizens of the RF viewed Ukrainians negatively.
Today 69% of Russians support President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in the conflict with Ukraine, 90% support the annex of Crimea.
One third of the citizens of each country want to close the border.
“Russian liberalism always end where the Ukrainian issue begins,” sats Ukrainian writer Irena Karpa to NV. “I am not surprised by their messiah and elder brother complex – for centuries, there has been such a propaganda machine there that any perpetuum mobile would be envious.”
In the conflict with Ukraine, the Russians have shown themselves to be “dumb and angry, with a huge ego, scared and enslaved,” she thinks, considering it a wonder at the high percentage of Russians that are unable to think for themselves.
“Having swallowed, like bait, the national idea of their Russian world, they allowed themselves to be willingly zombified with essentially primitive techniques,” she says.
The press is a horrible brainwashing weapon, which can influence a person from any nation, thinks photographer Yefrem Lukatskiy. “The Russians are under the influence of their press, their journalists, they have their own Ministry of Ideology – though it may be called differently,” says Lukatskiy. “It is not by chance that in Germany [Minister for Propaganda Joseph] Goebbels was once the third most important person in the country.”
In contemporary Russia the ideology, under the influence of which people are throwing themselves into battle and hating normal people, is formed with the help of the press.
In light of this propaganda, the Russians that dared stand against the current, for the freedom of human beings within themselves, deserve more respect, emphasises Karpa.
“There are not only ‘Putins’ in Russia,” MP Lesya Orobets agrees with her. “Some Russians are still capable of human behaviour.”
Source: NVUA
Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina
