I did not vote for those who rule now.

I'm not trying to convince you of anything, but I'm telling you how it looks from my side. You told me that Russia sent most of its troops to Ukraine. You can statistics and exact figures, preferably by citing links, I will be glad to read.

I say that statistically there are simply more people in Russia and among them there will be those who will go to war when they are called, no matter how many people are against it.

Regarding sanctions, I understand that sanctions don't work overnight and that they target certain sectors. And we will see the result much later.

Nothing changes

Iran has been under sanctions for many years - and they are producing drones. And Russia is richer in resources. And not all brains leave.

There will always be an opportunity to somehow and somewhere bring something (I'm talking about the military industry). And the state has money.

A foreign company will not tell a random Ivan - "Hey Ivan, come to work with us, here's your housing for the first year. Here's help for you, better work with us"

So Ivan will go to his job tomorrow and pay his taxes, even if he would very much like to leave.

Can't make it fast

And the war will not be able to end quickly, as we all would not like it here.

This is an incomprehensible and hopeless situation for people who do not want to get into politics (yes, many will shout on reddit that YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN POLITICS). But understand a simple thought - if no one taught you this and did not put this knowledge into your brain, how should you get to this? What should the cash desk do in a city with 300k population?

She hears all her life that the West is bad. She works 10 hours a day for $500 a month. (go tell an avid gamer that you need to take care of your health, eat right and not sit at the computer for 8 hours a day - unless I'm trying to offend gamers :) I'm trying to give at least some example that it's hard to take and change your life, people don't want to change.

With such success, one could say - in ancient Egypt there was no Internet simply because they did not want it. I had to take it and do it. Well, that's not how it works.

No, you should not expect a 6 year old child to be able to calculate the mathematical formulas of a university professor.

What I want to say is that the country is 30 years old (Russia), which spent 10 years in dark times (90s).

You should not expect that overnight people will stand up and begin to understand politics, express their opinions competently, and so on. Now this is all a judgment in hindsight.

Sorry for this confusion, it's just that I often read here the call "Russians get up and solve your problem."

To be honest, I do not see steps that could lead to the abolition of hostilities.

Well, imagine there will be no 10nm processors, what will change?

fewer tanks? or ak47 will stop producing - no

It seems to me that the problem for the West is that people use everything on themselves (let's deprive people of their phones and they will go out into the street). This will not happen.

What is bad for a citizen of a Western country is not the same as bad for a citizen of Russia (tolerate).

Compare even how they strike in France and how in Russia, the usual protests. If I am not confusing, then there was a situation with railways (drivers).

I don't remember this happening here.

And the food will not end, I will not stop bringing and producing cars (at the old factories of Ford, Renault, Nissan, and so on). They will start selling Turkish and Iranian and Chinese clothes (and people outside major cities already bought clothes without a brand - I’m talking about people who don’t watch Netflix, don’t listen to spotify, don’t drink coconut frappuccino in Starbucks, I think you understand who I mean).

And in the end I come to this idea:

The West supports Ukraine with resources, but not people.

It must be understood that Russia did not completely introduce all troops into the territory of Ukraine. Or it can introduce (and here we will have an example of how I use nuclear weapons, even if it’s already working a little badly. That is, I want to say that even if there are 1 million military men who voluntarily go to war, this is already a disaster, but Russia has troops in reserve, in addition to the regular army). So even if the equipment is bad, there will simply be more people.

I do not want to offend anyone and do not whitewash the authorities, I'm just trying to think critically. Because of the sanctions, the bullet will not get stuck in the muzzle. Because of the sanctions, brainwashed people (who did not use Western things in everyday life) will not stop trusting Putin. Because of the sanctions, life will not end, but will only provide food for propaganda.

Understanding how many resources we spend on wars and other things in our world, it would be better if we spent them on science and the conquest and study of space. F**** up. :(

Russian here

I don't write much here, but I wanted to speak up

as i read a lot of independent mass-media, western and so on, i hope my opinion, as a private person, will not be perceived as propaganda and i will not be told that i am a bot :)

With your permission I will use the translator and if there are any mistakes, please forgive me in advance.

And so, what I would like to say

This is the personal opinion of a man who lives in Moscow, I can't speak for the whole country and all the people. I hope someone will be interested in how I see life now.

What is the real situation here now (let's ignore the propaganda from both sides)

- Gone are the car manufacturers (but imports of used cars from Europe, on the contrary, has increased, and came a lot of Chinese cars. Just so you understand, these are NOT cars from Alibaba, but rather the level of cars from Korea a few years ago). Spare parts are available (I drive a Mercedes GLA 250, oil service is the same price as a year ago, parts are available)

- Food. Not so much is missing. Some of the brands just renamed or imported through other countries. Basic products are available. No empty shelves. Remember a couple of days ago we were talking about Heineken adding 61 new brands in Russia. Well the situation is about the same in everything.

- Electronics. There were a lot of Chinese brands even before February 24. (Xiaomi, oppo, huawei and so on). Apple a lot, price as it was before the war. A lot of electronics are coming from Dubai.

- Clothing. Not a few brands have gone (masmarket), some brands just changed the logo (this is incidentally, in my opinion a good indicator of duplicity, first they said they were leaving, and then they just changed the sign and stayed to work - here Westerners should ask their manufacturers why so).

- Communication. Internet at home has not become more expensive, mobile Internet or cellular communication has not become more expensive or worse. 5g has never been introduced, yes. But they say it will be soon. China is not standing still. Time will tell when the telecom companies start to experience a shortage of equipment, base stations and other things, but so far everything is fine and I do not see panic.

- Banking. Apps are being removed from the App Store. But new ones are coming out, no problem there. Everything works. The banks are also quickly making mobile versions of their sites, with full functionality as in the apps. It's not for nothing that they say we have a strong IT sector.

- Entertainment. Gone are Netflix and Spotify. Well, I personally (I was talking about myself here) did not use them. Kinopoisk and Yandex Music are my choices. Now something is starting to disappear from subscriptions. Well, Russia has the experience of content piracy and online sites have not gone anywhere. People will get content anyway.

I want to make an additional point in advance - "leave the country and not support its economy. I know people who have left the country personally - they are all IT people.

Problem 1 is that someone has to leave relatives and relatives here. It's hard, leaving parents and grandparents behind forever.

Problem 2 - they work remotely for Russian companies (to the question of taxes and where they go), and face the fact that they are often denied jobs in the new country (because Russian). We live in the real world, not a Hollywood movie, no one is waiting for you with open arms.

Problem 3 - not everyone wants to give up the standard of living that we have. (And we understand that leaving can often be a person with above-average income).

If you have questions about normal life "under sanctions" - ask, I will try to tell you or answer you. Again, this is just my personal opinion, and it is not intended to hurt anyone's feelings.