Russian Support for Putin’s War in Ukraine Is Hardening
A year after the invasion, the Kremlin is confident the country is ready to keep fighting.
As Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine struggles into its second year, his transformation of Russian society is in overdrive.
The Russian leader has unleashed a wave of repression not seen since his KGB hero Yuri Andropov ruled, jailing citizens for the slightest hints of questioning of his official line, a mix of Russian imperial and Soviet nostalgia that has been rushed into curricula for schools and universities across the country. Artists, writers and actors have been hounded from their jobs for even suggesting critical views, their works and exhibits replaced by new ones scrubbed for adherence to the neo-Soviet “traditional values” Putin wrote into law. Schoolchildren denounce teachers and parishioners priests for suggesting peace instead of war.