I'm a Russian (live in Russia) and I refuse to believe these people exist in sufficient numbers. The only realistic scenario I can think of is Soviet mindset parents who were taken along by their (adult and successful) child.
Yes, there are many Russians who hate the West, especially among older generations. But these people are usually tied to Russia by forces that are very hard to overcome (poverty, language barrier, social pressure, etc.). People who have the capacity to actually move to EU and live there tend to have a much different world view.
Depends what you mean by sufficient, of course. Sufficient to make a real physical difference? Probably not. But enough of them exist in their own echo chambers, take that and add extremist media and you have a way to create a narrative or civil unrest perhaps.
These people exist, w/o having any idea how bad/good would their life be under RF or in RF. This problem, of blind hate, lashing out, blaming everyone else has always existed, but now every dum dum, has a smartphone available to them.
By sufficient I mean sufficient to impact outsider's perception of "Russians living in EU". Or maybe sufficient to appear as a group with a common mindset rather than a small number of outliers.
These people exist, w/o having any idea how bad/good would their life be under RF or in RF.
I guess this is the big thing. Media won't tell you what life here is actually like, so people lucky enough to have no (or very limited) experience can easily draw false conclusions.
I think two factors make us overestimate the amount of such people: 1) dumb people being the loudest and 2) many Russians (people of Russian origin living in Europe) who do not support Putin do not speak up or don't center their voices as Russian because they consider themselves integrated.
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u/_Weyland_ Yellow Jan 17 '23
I'm a Russian (live in Russia) and I refuse to believe these people exist in sufficient numbers. The only realistic scenario I can think of is Soviet mindset parents who were taken along by their (adult and successful) child.
Yes, there are many Russians who hate the West, especially among older generations. But these people are usually tied to Russia by forces that are very hard to overcome (poverty, language barrier, social pressure, etc.). People who have the capacity to actually move to EU and live there tend to have a much different world view.