Date: 2025-04-03 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00027224
THE UKRAINE WAR
UKRAINIANS ATTACK ON RUSSIAN SOIL!
Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW): How did Russian society react to the Ukrainian attack?
UKRAINIANS ATTACK ON RUSSIAN SOIL!
Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW): How did Russian society react to the Ukrainian attack?
Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1mvUe6whHA
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
- 0:01
- [Music]
- while we still have very little verified
- information about what's happening
- militarily in the K region and its
- territories invaded by Ukrainian forces
- the Russian propaganda is still playing
- its information game in an attempt to
- downplay these events above all the aim
- is to reassure the Russian public and
- give the impression that nothing serious
- is happening but is that really the case
- what are the reactions of Russian
- Society to what's happening we'll look
- at materials and information on what's
- going on to explain how Russians are
- reacting to the Ukrainian incursion into
- Russia their murderers their Nazis their
- murderers their executioners their polls
- polish mercenaries so we were told by a
- soldier who told us to leave our
- village first of all we already know
- what particular Russian accounts confirm
- what has also been said here in Russian
- propaganda that Russian Society is in a
- 1:01
- state of panic people are leaving the
- territories affected by the Ukrainian
- attack in panic and complaining that the
- authorities are not helping them that
- they have been left without any support
- and even that the propaganda is lying to
- them reassuring them that everything is
- okay while in fact it's not okay at
- all there are lessons to be learned from
- such events I think some of these
- lessons are surprising to the ukrainians
- themselves they thought they would so
- Panic that people would be upset and
- they were
- right at the same time in parallel with
- the propaganda game in the state media
- Russian institutions are trying to
- tighten censorship and ensure that
- information unfavorable to the
- authorities of the invaded areas does
- not reach the public sphere among other
- things with this intention Russian
- regulator rosom nadzor on August 8th
- issued a decision to completely block
- YouTube in Russia and on August 9th it
- turned out that a very popular messaging
- 2:00
- service in Russia regarded as one of the
- safest signal is also being blocked this
- is how the authorities are trying to
- ensure that information from the areas
- attacked by ukrainians and affected by
- social Panic does not reach wide
- audiences and spread throughout social
- networks people who managed to escape
- and evacuate from the attacked areas
- complain that they have lost
- communication with relatives who stayed
- behind this may indicate that the
- Russian authorities are also
- deliberately blocking satellite and
- telephone Communication in order to
- again limit the spread of negative
- information from particular information
- of Russians who fled the attacked areas
- from information on social networks as
- well as from reports gathered by the
- opposition media and even some from
- telegram channels which are the social
- networks of correspondents and people
- who report on a regular basis and are
- not necessarily critical of the
- authorities we know that the situation
- in the region from a social perspective
- does indeed not look very good good
- 3:00
- Russians primarily complain that they
- have been left without help here the
- propaganda has a very difficult task
- because it has to level all these
- dangerous moods and somehow try to drive
- the narrative in such a way that it's
- reassuring to the public nevertheless
- it's a very difficult matter because
- it's an extremely uncomfortable topic
- for the
- propaganda they had to save themselves
- these creatures from the administration
- are lying they give themselves medals
- while people escape with their lives
- only because they Sav themselves save
- yourself while you can television is
- just lies lies lies and more
- lies from these collected accounts we
- know that Russians did not in any way
- spontaneously or at the Grassroots level
- fight against the Invaders there's no
- information about Russians in any way
- organizing themselves and taking up arms
- against the enemy there's also no
- information about them organizing
- territorial defense about increased en
- 4:00
- listings in the attacked regions or in
- any other part of Russia we see here
- that social grassroot resistance to the
- Ukrainian attack in Russia is
- non-existent at this point the most
- common strategy taken by Russians is to
- Simply flee Russians report that they
- have mostly evacuated themselves from
- dangerous areas either using their own
- cars or some means of transportation or
- with the help of their neighbors at the
- same time they complained that the
- authorities did not provide evacuation
- facilities for anyone willing to leave
- which indicates on the one hand that
- authorities were simply not prepared for
- the fact that an evacuation would be
- needed and on the other hand it
- demonstrates organizational paralysis at
- the regional level and shows that the
- authorities are simply not prepared to
- act in such an organized systemic way in
- critical
- situations our neighbors and friends
- helped with the Escape there was no
- evacuation and there still isn't my
- parents are from
- 5:01
- martinova Neighbors whoever could left
- but of course with their own cars those
- who don't have cars are still in
- martinova and pushkar no one is
- evacuating them in the city itself many
- people went missing without any news and
- they are being searched for because
- there is neither communication nor
- electricity there is no communication
- with people what our Governors write
- that they are evacuating people by buses
- this is is not true everyone is leaving
- on their own and Under
- Fire yesterday I was in the Bola sodak
- region which is still fairly okay this
- is the only place where you could buy
- food and water because here no one
- provides supplies or water or anything
- else people are cut off from the world
- they have nothing yesterday the soldiers
- said that martinova is no longer ours
- martinova has already been occupied by
- the hos the ukrainians
- 6:00
- my children are in K I had to leave
- everything even though they are Under
- Fire there we also don't know what the
- situation is we don't know because they
- are constantly lying to us they say it's
- calm that everything is fine but if
- soldiers came yesterday and said that
- there are already ukrainians in
- martinova while the authorities say that
- everything is fine then nothing is
- [Music]
- fine also complaints and grievances on
- social networks that local authorities
- did not care about their own residents
- and do not provide them with proper
- assistance there are also accusations
- against the propaganda it's said
- outright that the propaganda is lying
- and misrepresents the situation by
- reassuring the Russians that everything
- is fine while in fact in the lands
- occupied by the ukrainians or in the
- attacked territories it's still
- dangerous and residents have to flee
- it's also worth mentioning that in this
- critical situation a well-known Russian
- attitude emerges meaning that people
- 7:02
- turn directly to Putin for help in an
- authoritarian State such as Russia this
- is a very common method of trying to
- solve problems when basic systemic
- methods of solving social political
- problems are not working the public
- appeals to Putin as the highest
- Authority asking for help and
- complaining about the bad Regional
- authorities this is such a popular
- Paradigm the good SAR helps society and
- the bad boyars behind his back make
- decisions that are unfavorable to to
- society we see here that in this
- situation a situation of attack where
- Society feels threatened Russians still
- believe that this appeal could help them
- these are just some statements proving
- that this belief is still alive and well
- that Putin can solve all of people's
- problems dear Vladimir vladimirovich we
- the people of the Russian Federation
- from the K oblast the sudin region
- address you on August 6th foreign troops
- with equipment entered our land within
- 8:01
- hours our city was turned to
- ruins our husbands our neighbors are
- defending donbas we lost our land we
- lost our homes we fled Under
- Fire we ran among the ruins many of us
- have no documents we turned to you for
- help we have been left alone we have
- lived through shelling we supported and
- are supporting our army from the very
- first days from the very beginning of
- the special military
- operation please someone say something
- more we were left with our children
- Without Shelter without water without
- money we had to escape with what we had
- our children children are afraid to
- 9:00
- sleep at night our relatives stayed
- behind we cannot contact them there is
- no communication please help
- us what is striking after listening to
- these statements is that they are
- completely devoid of any deeper
- reflection on what the real causes of
- the Ukrainian attack on Russian
- territory are there's no mention of the
- criminal war that Putin Unleashed nor of
- the fact that Putin is actually pursuing
- policies that are destroying Russia and
- are very harmful to Russian Society at
- this stage we don't see among the voices
- out of Russia any deeper reflection a
- re-evaluation of how the regime is
- perceived and how Putin and the war
- itself are perceived instead the
- dissatisfaction and frustration of
- citizens are clearly visible and the
- question is how will they evolve in the
- next few days and what they will
- transform into there will probably be
- some chaos and frustration and
- bitterness and perhaps paralysis of some
- social and political life in the area on
- the other hand I don't expect any larger
- 10:01
- organized disruption to evolve out of
- this like protests against the regime
- therefore we can say that at this point
- of course the events in the KK region
- and other border regions are not
- favorable to the Kremlin in terms of
- image but in the political sphere at
- this point at least they are not a
- significant threat to the Kremlin Putin
- Putin please help Putin Putin please
- help please help they are bombing
- Villages surely you don't know what's
- going on it's terrible What's Happening
- Here among the public reactions the
- anti-ukrainian sentiment is Center Stage
- there is a huge anger against ukrainians
- in the statements of Russians who call
- them Hol Nazis ukis and so on and also
- an anger against the West we also see
- that the propaganda has evolved in
- recent days towards blaming the west and
- that it coordinated these Ukrainian
- attacks in contrast there is no major
- threat against the West as to what
- 11:01
- Russia might do in response so we'll
- continue to monitor both the public
- sentiment and propaganda to see where it
- goes in the propaganda there was however
- a theme of looking for internal enemies
- that is people who are responsible for
- the fact that the Russian border was not
- protected that hostile troops invaded
- the country that citizens were not
- evacuated in time and that they were not
- given adequate assistance we see that
- the propaganda is trying to redirect
- public anger and hos towards internal
- enemies War correspondents or
- commentators on Russian television who
- have been nominated as these enemies who
- as indicated in the propaganda so panic
- and make Russian Society
- hysterical the authorities in ke make no
- secret of the fact that their goal is to
- destabilize the political situation in
- our country therefore when I say
- coordinated actions I mean those who are
- sewing
- 12:01
- Panic spreading blatant nonsense and to
- use the language of comrade Stalin are
- alarmists and
- traitors this information chaos that has
- been Unleashed by Ukrainian scup
- channels not just on telegram but also
- in other mass media is absolutely
- unprecedented and raises the question
- have you all gone mad are you working
- for the enemy do you even understand
- what weight your words carry do you
- understand the hysteria tonight you came
- up with the idea of a deep 10 kilm long
- tank breach on the broad front
- line where do you get such information
- do you understand how the people of the
- K government will react to this the
- consequences of the panic do you even
- realize your responsibility for the lies
- you spread and then some of you even
- those in uniform running channels on
- Telegram a separate issue Al together
- 13:01
- start saying well after all wasn't there
- a diversionary reconnaissance
- group the Kremlin might use this mood of
- discontent bitterness and Chaos as well
- as this anti-ukrainian or anti-western
- sentiment in the next few days or months
- to make some War related decisions that
- have so far been unpopular in Russian
- Society perhaps it will intensify
- mobilization which is still being
- carried out in Russia only at a slight
- ly lower rate than at the beginning of
- the partial mobilization coordinated in
- Russia in September 2022 it remains to
- be seen how this will unfold because so
- far the mobilization decision has been
- seen as a socially unfavorable one as
- one that provoked discontent and
- therefore carried additional political
- risks for the Kremlin in the broader
- scheme of things we can also see that
- the incursion of ukrainians into Russian
- territory undermines the ideological
- underpinnings of the Kremlin regime
- which preaches the conservative ideology
- 14:00
- associated with the ruskim the so-called
- Russian World in light of the kremlin's
- rhetoric Ukraine is part of this Russian
- World a rebellious part A Part
- manipulated by the west but a part
- nonetheless and it's beyond the
- comprehension of very many Russians that
- ukrainians could spontaneously invade
- Russian territory and fight Russians on
- Russian soil we can see that Ukrainian
- actions have led to the undermining of
- this ideology and we'll see how the
- Kremlin handles this in the weeks and
- months to come in light of the Ukrainian
- attack on Russia the whole narrative
- about the Russian world or the so-called
- Triune Russian nation is slowly being
- eroded we have to say that the actions
- of the ukrainians their incursion into
- Russian territory have caused a great
- deal of political image problems for the
- Kremlin first of all they demonstrated
- that the Russian state is unable to
- defend its border to ensure the security
- of its citizens to systemically organize
- Aid and evacuation
- these are facts that pierce the image of
- 15:02
- the authorities and the image of the
- Kremlin and undermine The credibility of
- the propaganda and we'll see how the
- propaganda and the kemin authorities
- deal with this in the days to
- come thank you for watching make sure to
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- from the region