Advertising producer Rita Guerman, like many other members of Russia’s affluent middle class, had long been critical of Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin.

However, she has altered her mind on Putin after Western sanctions were imposed in response to his decision to commit soldiers to Ukraine in late February.

“I have opened my eyes,” said the 42-year-old, praising the Russian president for defending the country “against NATO”.

The West has slammed Russia with unprecedented sanctions in retaliation for Putin’s military assault in pro-Western Ukraine, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, including civilians, and the displacement of more than 11 million people.

The sanctions were intended to erode popular support for the Kremlin, but critics believe the crippling penalties have had the opposite impact in many instances.

Following their initial shock and astonishment, many members of the predominantly pro-Western middle class, such as Guerman, believe the West has treated them unfairly and are uniting behind Putin.

The latest sanctions have hit Russians indiscriminately, stripping them of contracts with foreign companies, European vacations, Visa- and Mastercard-branded credit cards, and access to Western medicines.

When Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24 Guerman was finishing a commercial for a Ukrainian company. Shaken at first, she wanted to make a donation to the Ukrainian army. Then she spent two weeks reflecting and listening to “historians and experts in geopolitics” and emerged a Putin supporter.

“A normal person cannot accept war. It’s tearing me apart, but we are talking about the sovereignty of Russia,” Guerman told AFP.

“All bets are off: Putin had no choice but to enter Ukraine to protect us from the Anglo-Saxons.”

As a result of the sanctions, she said she had lost all her foreign clients and work with domestic ones has also dried up.

“We are under siege,” she said, adding that she had reconsidered her values. “There is Coca Cola and iPhones. And there are existential values.”

‘Demonisation of Russians’

According to a recent poll conducted by the independent pollster Levada, 83 percent of respondents approved of Putin’s work in March, up from 65 percent in December of last year.

However, many sociologists argue that during a military war, surveys do not give an impartial picture since criticising the rulers is effectively prohibited.

Russian authorities have imposed prison sentences of up to 15 years for propagating “fake news” about the Russian army since the commencement of the war operation in Ukraine.

Opposition media have been banned or forced to cease operations, while anti-Ukraine and anti-Western propaganda has been ramped up on television networks.

Natalia Tikhonova, chief researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said many members of the middle class do not understand why they have to collectively share responsibility for Putin’s actions in Ukraine when they never voted for Putin.

“The demonisation of Russians as a nation in Europe is only pushing them to rally around the flag,” Tikhonova told AFP.

More than 15,000 people were detained at protests in Russia after the start of the conflict but those demonstrations quickly petered out. Tens of thousands of Russians — most of them well-educated professionals — have left the country in protest.

Those who have stayed behind are adjusting to a harsh new reality and many agree with the Kremlin narrative that the West is waging a “total war” against the Russians.

“Regardless of their opposition to the operation in Ukraine, the middle class has mobilised in support of Putin and against the West,” said Tikhonova, pointing out that around 60 percent of those people used to consider themselves “close to Europeans.”

Also Read

Failing our moral duty in Ukraine’s war with Russia, Piers Morgan bang Countries

Piers Morgan banged at countries across the globe for not helping Ukraine...