He had no regrets over the loss of his leg. \u201cIt means that I can finally go home \u2013 alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re fighting for fields that we cannot even take,\u201d interjected a fellow soldier, Kirill, also in his 20s, laughing wryly. \u201cThis war will never end \u2026 It feels like it\u2019s only just begun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scenes like this one remain invisible to most Russians, erased by state propaganda and glossy government projects supporting returning veterans. But inside the country, fatigue and resentment are festering beneath the suppression of dissent.<\/p>\n
There is no outlet for public frustration and no relief from the mounting national exhaustion with a nearly four-year-long war that is corroding the country from within and making society more dysfunctional, broken and paranoid, according to observers and those interviewed for this article.<\/p>\n
Over the past year, the Russian economy has lurched from spectacular growth to near stagnation. <\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s digital repression and isolation are deepening as more apps and platforms are banned. <\/p>\n
According to Western intelligence, more than a million Russian fighters have been killed or wounded \u2013 many in battles for marginal gains. <\/p>\n
And as Moscow\u2019s search for internal enemies intensifies, its machine of repression is turning on its own children and patriots.<\/p>\n
During Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s meeting with his Human Rights Council this month, film director Alexander Sokurov spoke out against censorship, the country\u2019s suffocating foreign agent laws, the rising cost of living and the lack of opportunities for young people. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf Russia doesn\u2019t change how it works with young people, it faces a dead end,\u201d he said. Putin said he would respond later to his grievances.<\/p>\n
A former senior Kremlin official told the Post that he was \u201cvery worried\u201d about the \u201cdark picture inside Russia\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t turn the clock back easily; political will is needed to reverse this, and it simply does not exist,\u201d the former official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
Bearing the brunt<\/p>\n
In Belgorod, a Russian border city that once enjoyed close links to Ukraine\u2019s Kharkiv \u2013 just 74km to the southwest \u2013 the price of this war is particularly tangible.<\/p>\n
Daily drone attacks have long become part of the routine here. <\/p>\n
Mud-spattered ambulances and camouflaged air-defence units tear through the centre of town. The city\u2019s volunteer networks \u2013 an integral part of the war effort that has supported the troops with clothing, food and equipment where the Government has failed \u2013 continue to work around the clock, with retirees sewing anti-drone netting and 3D-printing plastic bomb casings for drones.<\/p>\n
Despite the suffering and mass destruction taking place just across the border, Belgorod regards itself as the main victim of this war. <\/p>\n
The city illustrates the widening gap in Russian society between the indifferent, metropolitan majority and the \u201cwarring\u201d few.<\/p>\n
On a cold November afternoon, a group of volunteers helping deliver supplies to the Army huddled around a table to eat soup. They told the Post that they felt abandoned by Moscow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have absolutely no idea what is going on here!\u201d exploded Edik, 52. \u201cIn Moscow there are parties, people having fun, going on vacations. How is that possible? Here blood is being spilled, and there they\u2019re celebrating. How can they reconcile that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Several volunteers said they had noticed a lull in donations since the start of the year, as many expected the war to end soon. Yevgenia Gribova, 35, who co-ordinates a centre in Belgorod, said the volunteer movement is facing a crisis. <\/p>\n
In the first year, she said, people were spending the last of their roubles to support the troops, working constantly, without days off or holidays. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow people want to rest. They want to spend money on themselves rather than on materials for the front lines,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But while people said they want to see an end to the conflict, some also spoke of their desire to keep fighting and the need to end the war under the \u201cright\u201d conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone still wants to take Odesa. It\u2019s a common opinion: People want to go to Odesa on [holiday] again,\u201d Gribova said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, this is a civil war between Russians and Russians who have forgotten a bit that they are Russians, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belgorod and residents of Russia\u2019s regions bordering Ukraine form part of what pro-Kremlin sociologist Valery Fyodorov, the director of VCIOM polling institution, has defined as \u201cwarring Russia\u201d.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a minority of the country \u2013 roughly 20% \u2013 consisting of soldiers, their families, patriotic volunteers and workers in military factories who consider the war vital for Russia\u2019s survival and who are pushing for victory. <\/p>\n
The rest, he says, are either passively loyal, indifferent to the war, opposed to it but taking refuge in their private lives, or living in exile.<\/p>\n
Dmitry, a deputy commander of a grenade-launcher platoon in Russia\u2019s 116th special purpose brigade, said that Russia would fight for a very long time and \u201cwith sticks, if necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone wants to go home. Everyone wants all of this to end. But even tired people carry out their tasks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Volunteers sew anti-drone nets and pack pillows at a volunteer centre in Belgorod, Russia. Photo \/ Francesca Ebel, The Washington Post<\/p>\n
Return of the heroes<\/p>\n
How does a nation sell to its people a war that is destroying the country \u2013 and how does it ensure that it continues?<\/p>\n
To keep the war effort rolling and to stave off discontent, the Kremlin has poured money into projects supporting soldiers and veterans, including the nationwide Defender of the Fatherland State Foundation, which was established in 2023 by Putin and is led by his niece, Deputy Defence Minister Anna Tsivaleva.<\/p>\n
For their sacrifice, soldiers are rewarded with financial benefits, social prestige, and significant employment and education opportunities for themselves and their children.<\/p>\n
Denis Poltavsky lost the sight in his right eye after he was swarmed by drones in battle last year. Unwilling to share many details about his time on the front, Poltavsky said he suffered from extreme PTSD, haunted by nightmares and insomnia.<\/p>\n
But without a doubt, he says his life has materially improved since returning home. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe support is very extensive. The state is doing everything for veterans and soldiers. \u2026 They didn\u2019t abandon us. They keep track of you and provide everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poltavsky was paid an initial US$51,000 ($88,074) for his injury, plus insurance and a military pension. He has access to free transport, and tickets to museums and theatres. He recently completed Belgorod\u2019s Time of Our Heroes management and leadership training, and hopes to soon receive a grant for his metalworking business.<\/p>\n
Veterans also have access to round-the-clock support from psychologists, doctors and volunteers; they are given tax breaks and secure employment, even with disabilities. Belgorod\u2019s programme is even offering veterans free land on which to build a house.<\/p>\n
Middlebury College professor Will Pyle, who studies Russia\u2019s economy, has found that in some regions a larger share of Russians report being satisfied with their lives than at any time during the decade preceding the February 2022 invasion. The finding is based on analysis of data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, which is maintained by Moscow\u2019s Higher School of Economics.<\/p>\n
According to Pyle\u2019s research, conducted with the Bank of Finland, the increase in reported life satisfaction is especially pronounced in regions whose economies have benefitted from wartime and military-adjacent industrial production.<\/p>\n
This mirrors Fyodorov\u2019s research. \u201cThe more depressed the region, the more people have noticed their improvement in life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But underneath the lionising of the soldiers and this temporary uptick in prosperity is the darker impact of returning veterans and the longer-term social consequences of the invasion. <\/p>\n
Already, horrific crimes including murders and rapes have been committed by returning soldiers, and many of the convicted criminals who signed contracts to win their freedom have returned home to commit more crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery governor in Russia knows that a wave of problems is coming with the soldiers returning home from the front with serious post-traumatic stress disorder,\u201d said a Kremlin insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity. \u201cAnd they know the responsibility to deal with this will fall to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than a million Russian fighters have been killed or wounded in the war, according to Western intelligence. Photo \/ Francesca Ebel, The Washington Post<\/p>\n
The patriots and the teens<\/p>\n
Since the start of the war, Russia has gone after its dissenters, pursuing LGBTQ+ people, artists and opposition figures, and made criticism of the conflict and the military illegal. But now, some of the state\u2019s most fervent supporters are running into trouble as well.<\/p>\n
The vocal, ultrapatriotic \u201cZ\u201d military bloggers, initially a backbone of support for Putin\u2019s invasion, have gone on to criticise corruption and shortcomings in the Army. The most radical of their leaders, such as ultranationalist hawk Igor Strelkov, were initially jailed. But in the autumn, they saw their ranks swept by an unexpected purge as the whole movement became the focus of repression.<\/p>\n
In September, authorities branded Roman Alyokhin, a prominent blogger with 151,000 subscribers on Telegram, a foreign agent, a label usually reserved for liberal opposition figures. In October, blogger Tatyana Montyan was declared a \u201cterrorist and extremist\u201d. Another, Oksana Kobeleva, was detained by the police. <\/p>\n
All had publicly criticised senior officials or other propagandists. The Z community has since turned on itself, with bloggers racing to denounce one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moment of unity did not last very long, and after almost four years, we are seeing how people begin to oppose each other as well, deciding which of them is more patriotic,\u201d said military blogger Mikhail Zvinchuk, the founder of the Rybar Telegram channel, which has links to the Defence Ministry.<\/p>\n
He added that the movement became corrupt and embezzled funds that were raised to support the troops. \u201cOver the years, there have been a number of crooks who are trying to exploit the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Russia\u2019s second city of St Petersburg, security services have found a different target: teenagers.<\/p>\n
At the Izmailsky courthouse last month, masked police officers escorted two teenage musicians from their hearing to the secret service cars waiting outside. <\/p>\n
The pair, 18-year-olds Diana Loginova and Alexander Orlov \u2013 from the street band Stoptime \u2013 had just had their arrest extended for a third time. Officially, they stood accused of blocking the entrance to a metro station during an impromptu street concert, but their true crime was their viral performances of anti-war songs.<\/p>\n
To many, the consequences of Stoptime\u2019s performances were inevitable. But the young musicians\u2019 case sent a chill through this still-liberal Baltic city, where street performances are an integral part of local culture.<\/p>\n
Copycat acts and musicians performing in solidarity with the imprisoned band members in the Urals and other cities in Russia were also arrested and charged as security services moved swiftly to crack down on the slightest flicker of dissent. Now, even singing the wrong kind of music can get you jailed, a development many regard as a return to the days of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
Loginova, known by her stage name, Naoko, spent the last 20 minutes in the courtroom clasping her mother\u2019s hands. \u201cI really hope this is the last time they arrest me,\u201d she whispered. Irina, her mother, smiled and held her daughter close, looking dazed. \u201cDon\u2019t you remember that they said that they would let you go on the first night? It\u2019s now been a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
What made Stoptime\u2019s rebellious music performances so striking was that they came at a time when free, creative spaces and opportunities to escape are fading fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe very fact that they performed such songs was captivating,\u201d said Ivan, 26, a history teacher, who attended many of their performances. \u201cIt was like an echo of normal life in our time. These are songs you want to listen to: They are kind, they\u2019re meaningful, they promote universal human values, they remind that you can overcome things.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said in Russia right now the state is trying to build a strict loyalty based on behaving a certain way \u201cin order to simply exist\u201d. Around him he\u2019s watched people accept a situation they were once horrified by and shift into a survival mode.<\/p>\n
On November 23, the Stoptime musicians were secretly and unexpectedly released, and they immediately fled the country. <\/p>\n
They were spotted in early December in Yerevan, Armenia, still performing the same opposition songs that got them arrested.<\/p>\n
Others have not been so lucky.<\/p>\n
Tatiana Balazeikina\u2019s 19-year-old son, Yegor, is three years into his seven-year sentence for terrorism after he attempted to throw a molotov cocktail at a local military registration office in 2023. Yegor is one of hundreds of teenagers and children arrested for anti-war protests, sabotage or treason since the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cStoptime were singing what so many people already had on the tip of their tongues,\u201d said Balazeikina from her home an hour south of St Petersburg. \u201cThis is dissent. And the only way for this state to remain what it is is to cut off all these signs of dissent right at the root.\u201d<\/p>\n
She believes young people present a special kind of threat to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese young people who essentially have nothing to lose except their freedom are very dangerous,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd if those young people are not only capable of thinking but can also sing what they think \u2026 that\u2019s an even bigger threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He had no regrets over the loss of his leg. \u201cIt means that I can finally go home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95,192,31047,2372,128638,3553,15261,71,128639,109,65838,42,2944,296,11113,128640,65176,43,1118,14727,24363,49612,8105,96734,13618,40,38,41,39,23644],"class_list":["post-211882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-and","tag-are","tag-beneath","tag-board","tag-dissent","tag-fatigue","tag-festering","tag-from","tag-frontlines","tag-ground","tag-halt","tag-headlines","tag-inside","tag-into","tag-kitchen","tag-limped","tag-mud","tag-news","tag-of","tag-outside","tag-resentment","tag-roadside","tag-russia","tag-soldiers","tag-suppression","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}