Whenever the topic turns to Ukraine vs Russia, I have noticed some people coming out of woodwork to assert that Russia is corrupted country. Now I will give you that Putin is a dictator as he has been a president for a long ass time and probably ordering his subordinates to kill his political dissidents but is there a lockdown and arrest of citizens? I want to know actually as the propaganda's everywhere that exaggerates a lot of things.
I want to also ask hypothetical question, if countries like Russia, China, Canada and Britain offered people temporary asylum and actually made effort to accommodate them for not understanding their own language, what country normies will choose, I wonder?
And as for me, you probably know what I will choose.
to answer the thread title as someone who knows very little about Russia: I get the feeling the govt at large largly ignores the populace, for good or for ill. Political intrigue is in the govt, and the normal person doesn't care because it really doesn't effect them. But the down side is that the country is like a colder wild west, but with track suits and vans, rather than cowboy boots and horses.