Until recently, Nika Melkozerova was the editor of the English-language news site The New Voice of Ukraine. She now works at Politico and writes war stories at breakneck speed, a job that requires a steady supply of electricity, Al Jazeera reports.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces have bombed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for months, causing frequent blackouts in the capital and across the country.

The destruction also left millions of Ukrainians without heat during a harsh winter that saw temperatures drop below freezing.

Despite the fact that the invasion of Ukraine was launched – and is being carried out on the orders – of Putin, Melkozerova holds ordinary Russians just as responsible for the war.

“It is not true that Putin is like an alien who was sent to Russia from nowhere,” said Melkozerova.

“No, the majority of the population supported Putin – those who did not support Putin lived in complicity with his government that: “We still have gas and oil, we still have a lot of money, so you don’t touch us and we won’t riot “, she added, referring to the unwritten social contract in which the authorities promised Russian citizens stability in exchange for their silence.

As the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, many Ukrainians feel the same way and ask the critical question: Why aren’t the Russians doing more to stop the war?

Anton Shekhovtsov, a Ukrainian political scientist at the University of Vienna who studies Russia’s influence in Europe, told Al Jazeera that Russia’s tacit agreement has become more apparent in recent years as protests against Putin’s authoritarianism have waned despite his growing power.

According to him, since the beginning of the war, Ukrainians, especially those who have friends and relatives in Russia and who deny what is happening in Ukraine, feel bitter disappointment.

“People are certainly angry,” he told Al Jazeera.

“There were many stories when relatives in Russia did not believe their Ukrainian relatives, for example, when the Russians bombed Ukrainian cities. They heard the sound of shelling [prin telefon] and his relatives still did not believe him.”

Shekhovtsov believes that many Russians act on the basis of a mechanism of psychological protection.

“It’s not that they don’t have access to information,” he said. “There are so many ways to see and know the truth, but they just refuse to do it. It is very uncomfortable for them to know and realize that they are scoundrels,” he explains. (full on Al Jazeera)

“Every Russian living in Russia now is part of the war machine,” and those who want to be on the right side of history should leave, chess player and chess player Harry Kasparov said in an interview with the German publication Spiegel. a fighter against the regime of Vladimir Putin.

Asked by Spiegel whether, having been abroad in political exile since 2013, he still feels he is in too comfortable a position to ask those who have not yet left Russia, Kasparov said that every Russian citizen, including himself, is responsible for it. war:

• “It’s a war. You’re either on one side or the other.
• Every Russian citizen, including me, bears collective responsibility for this war, even if it is not personal responsibility.
• Today, Russia is a fascist dictatorship that, as we say here, commits crimes against humanity. And everyone who is still living in Russia is part of this war machine, whether they want it or not.”

Why don’t Russians protest? “If we expect Russian citizens to overthrow Putin, we are doing it in vain

Commentators resort to stereotypes about the alleged national character: Russians are indulgent, have always obeyed any tsar in the Kremlin, or are afraid of freedom, as the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote.

It is true that rebellion is dangerous at this time. Anyone in Russia who stands up for freedom risks being imprisoned and tortured.

But these consequences also threaten demonstrators in Iran, where thousands have taken to the streets in recent months to protest against the mullahs’ brutal regime. Dozens of people have already paid with their lives.

Deutsche Welle also does not believe that the unfortunate economic events of the 90s forced Russians not to protest, because a similar fate befell Ukrainians, Belarusians, and even Romanians and Bulgarians.

Privatization was fraudulent, national wealth fell into the hands of former party or service cadres, but the population stood up and the democratic vote brought change.

“If we expect Russian citizens to overthrow Putin, we are doing so in vain, because it will not happen. Russia today in 1937. We in Estonia are afraid of Russia,” said Estonian MEP Jana Toom (Renew Europe group) in Bucharest.

From athletes to stars, under Putin / “Every Russian athlete should tell his government to stop the war”

Svitlana Khorkina (43 years old), one of the great gymnasts of the world, but also of Russia, is a big fan of Vladimir Putin and did not hesitate to publicize on social networks the “Z” sign, which is often used by the Russian president, which is depicted on the tanks that invaded Ukraine , as well as on other insignia from this war.

Khorkina, who now holds the rank of colonel in the Russian army and is married to a general 23 years older than her, published a scandalous message that caused a lot of comments.

“This is a campaign for those who are not afraid to admit that they are Russian. Let’s share it,” the ad says, Marca reports.

Players of the Russian hockey teams SKA Neftyanik and Dynamo Moscow expressed their support for Vladimir Putin and lined up before the game in the shape of the letter “Z” – the symbol that is on the Russian tanks that invaded Ukraine.

The hockey players’ gesture came just days after gymnast Ivan Kulyak (20) flashed a “Z” symbol on his equipment, similar to the one on the Russian tanks that invaded Ukraine.

In Italy, the performances of the famous Russian ballerina Sergei Polunin, who has three tattoos of Vladimir Putin, were canceled.

In Milan, the La Scala opera house removed the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev because he did not condemn the invasion, a similar decision for the New York Opera

Russian athletes must take a public stand against the war in Ukraine if they want to be allowed to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Kyiv mayor and former world boxing champion Vitaliy Klitsyko said Monday.

“Russian and Belarusian athletes cannot participate in the Olympic Games in Paris if they do not say “No” to the war. If they say it publicly, they can, but they are afraid,” he told AFP in an interview.

“I say to every Russian athlete: tell your government, the Russian president, to stop this senseless war,” added the mayor of the capital of Ukraine, assessing that one cannot be “neutral when people, women, and children are dying.” . “You are either for or against the war,” he said.