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Region: Europe

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to such a controversial question.

I have been trying to stay away from reading on the subject to protect my own mental health, so I am not as well versed on the war as I should be. But I do know that there will be some difficult concessions will be neccesary if we are serious about stopping the bloodshed. Crimea is for sure off the table for the time being and definitely the Russian speaking majority territories. It isn't right that warmongering in the 21st century allows a nation to gain territory, and I am personally conflicted on the West's response.

Putin is very obviously behind the scenes funding the far right and enabling destablization in the liberal democracies in the west and I think he wants to see how far he can get away with annexing foreign territory. I have a strong instinct (which I hope is wrong) that he'll do the same tactic in Moldova if he "wins" in Ukraine. I am very conflicted because it is extremely sad seeing hundreds of thousands of casualties, but I also have the opinion that we should go all in and make a stand that warmongering is not acceptable in this century and give Ukraine all the support it needs in equipment and humanitarian aid and make it hurt for them if they wish to continue their expansion. War is evil though. And there are so many young men and women that are losing their chances on having a healthy life because of the will of a minority of old geezers. It is all-around a depressing a bleak topic. And that is an understatement.

In regards to your election concerns, do you really feel like Putin could be voted out by regular Russian citizens if the election was fair? From my understandings from what little I have read, it sounds like most Russians are content with the current status quo as long as their is still food on the table and their personal lives change little.

I obviously don't have an easy answer as well if not describing it as muddy and uninformed, but if there was an easy answer, the international community would have executed the solution immediately. I hope you continue to be safe where you are at.

I don’t think Putin would go beyond Ukraine to be honest. But it’s fair to note I was quite sure he wouldn’t go to Ukraine either; until the very first morning of the war. I thought he’s smarter than that :/

Moldova have some advantage now to get ready for such possible escalation. And so do Armenia and Georgia. Other than that, there’s not a big list of where Putin can go with similar ease. But Transnistria is a tricky asset for his politics nonetheless

As for elections: yes. The real life behind internet and media is quite different. While his propaganda works and works very well (he gains more support, especially among the poorest classes of society) people aren’t in that majority as Kremlin tries to display. Everything which doesn’t align with his course is brutally silenced so it’s very convenient for his propaganda to look realistic, until you go out and see the real life in stores, at work places, on business meetings etc etc. I love to see this, what I call, silent protest where people express themselves in creative ways to avoid being fined or jailed for anti war activity or stances

I think they’ll fabricate the results like 80%+ in his support, or even more. Those old farts don’t even get it that in a real election the percentage for winners is usually much lower. Putin winning with 51% is more realistic than him winning with 99% lmao but the rednecks would still eat and swallow the latter result. A lot of his supporters remind me of mad religious cultists and that’s honestly frightening, such people are not able to negotiate (because that requires critical thinking first)

But in case of a full scale war against Russia the entire nation will fight for Russia even if they oppose Putin. They’d fight for their families and homes, and that’s another reason why betting on Russians to overthrow him under a big war threat is also wrong. Putin ≠ Russia and average folks will protect their home, not the leader

The New Nordic Union, Yahlia, Pilipinas and Malaya, St Scarlett, and 4 othersKanokla, Berlin and Hanover, Helisweerde, and Kkorea

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