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Why would Putin care what ordinary Russians think ?

Every single Russian citizen is scared of Putin, because they know he owns everything including their lives.

They also know that most of the dead and fighting are not even European white Russian, most of the unfortunates are from the many other cultures and peoples that have been conquered.

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I think russian government cares a lot about population support, and despite the efforts of the few Russian anti-war heroes, war still has broad support from a population, so it buys time for russian super rich to enjoy their position in society. Moreover, historically russian government used wars as a means to raise support, 1999 Ichkeriya war was used as a vehicle to prop up Putin popularity, 2008 Georgia invasion was able to gain widespread support for Medvedev, and of course 2014 invasion, and to lesser extent Syria invasion, repelled all the mass protests that were happening in early 2010s. Large chunk of population enjoys warmongering, hails strongmen and genocide. This does not extend to all Russians citizen, but likely majority of them.

I dont recall seeing protests from the Russian public demanding that the government perform the 1999 Ichkeriya war.

I recall second war very well, despite I was a child. Ukrainian TV was broadcasting Russian news at a time, so I saw resident buildings explosions and learned from the reports that evil Chechen terrorists were behind them. A humble but purposeful prime minister worked hard to stop these terrorists, and I was then fully on his side. This was years before I learned about sugar bag drills in Ryazan.

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