Analysis: Russians may not really be talking about or protesting against the war in Ukraine, but sanctions are having an impact
The West's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has seen a wide range of economic sanctions imposed on the country. In return, Russia has said it was limiting Russian access to such international media organisations as the BBC and Deutsche Welle. The Russian Duma has also passed legislation introducing jail terms for people who circulate fake information about the country's armed forces.
Sergey Utkin from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations joined Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1 to talk about such sanctions are affecting everyday life in Russia.
"You still have normal everyday life, as you can expect in a big city like Moscow, but there are signs of a change", says Utkin. "You have big international companies leaving Russia. You have much less freedom of travel because air flights get cancelled and Russian airlines will experience great difficulties with all the international networks they use, even just to function properly, even domestically like for booking and all the stuff that they need.
"We will have growing troubles, of course. The rate of the rouble is dropping significantly and this is what people cannot completely ignore, even if they still prefer not to protest against the actions of the government."
Utkin says people are "not really" talking about the war in Ukraine. "Many prefer to take a wait-and-see approach in spite of all those blows in economic terms. They will suffer those immediate consequences, but somehow they avoid thinking about the reason for that. Many still follow the state TV that tells you just some part of the picture and with a proper spin that is provided by the government. And they still feel like, well, probably this mess will end in a month or two, which is, I'm afraid, not the case."
Vladimir Putin insists that the invasion of Ukraine was made necessary by what was happening in Donetsk and Luhansk: is is this how most people see it? "It's just way more comfortable for many people to find some arguments in favor of the fact that their country is right and the opponents are wrong", says Utkin.
"Yes, you have many who refer to the fate of people in the Donbas and say 'well, it's not a war that was started by Russia. It is a war that has been based for eight years by Ukrainian nationalists against this brave people in the Donbas and now Russia's just trying to end this war'. This is the official interpretation that is also accepted by at least some people in the country.
"But you have a lot of question marks here, because this whole conflict in the Donbas, it also wouldn't evolve in the way it evolved without Russian involvement and support for those Donbas proclaimed republics. For all those years, it was also Russian contribution that the compromise with Kyiv was not found. We ended up in a stalemate.
"Putin basically argues that there was no other way than to start this military operation, as he calls it. But I think this operation is not a solution at all. It complicates things by far in comparison to the kind of troubles we had before there, between be it Moscow and Kyiv or Russia and the West."
Utkin has been outspoken about the invasion of Ukraine so is it difficult to speak out? "Of course there are risks, but I felt I couldn't just remain silent because what's happening goes against everything that I did for 20 years, trying to find ways for Russia and the West to cooperate on international security issues. Yes, we will see what will still be allowed in Russia and what's not, but so far, I think, just some basic words about what's happening, they were just necessary. That was my feeling."
