Putin beordrar styrkor att gå in i Ukraina - INVASION NU (2022-02-24)

Lack of Individualism - There will be no "popular uprising" in Russia.
An average Russian will only try to comply with the existing order of things. If the current topic of the day is the war against "Ukrainian Nazis" all would comply, some apathetically, some wholeheartedly.
This applies even to those who flee Russia. A Harvard study of Soviet defector interviews confirms that the Russians provided responses that they thought were expected from them. But most of them still sympathized with the Soviet regime.

There is no separation between the tsar and the nation - The tsar is the nation. Why so much love for the Russian leader? I think a quote from my relative living in Russia sums it up beautifully:
"Protesting against the authorities is to protest against the nation."

Defeat. A thread.
One important indicator for me is how often people in Russia talk about possible defeat. I must confess that it happens now really often, which is a dramatic turn from the early months of the war.

For quite a while, nobody took the word “defeat” in their mouth, even if they considered the invasion to be an insane choice. That has changed. While majority in Russia remains detached and prefers to avoid bad thoughts, those who dare to think are increasingly accepting that the war is likely to end with a defeat.