Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ 'HELL NO WE WON'T GO', part 2: why many Russians don't want to go to war any more. ⬇️

3/ Kartavykh has collated quotes from his respondents into a number of categories, and highlighted representative examples. They provide a rare insight into unfiltered Russian public opinion, which isn't normally on display like this:

3/ Kartavykh has collated quotes from his respondents into a number of categories, and highlighted representative examples. They provide a rare insight into unfiltered Russian public opinion, which isn't normally on display like this:

4/ 1️⃣ Fear of Death / Value of Life

“I'd like to live a little longer...”

“The risk of dying is too high simply because 'nobody's going to go there' ©, 'you're the smartest', or something like that."

“I don't really want to die for those assholes.”

5/ 2️⃣ Unpreparedness/Conditions of Service (equipment, evacuation, training)

"Because 'we haven't started yet,' well, maybe we should just fucking start? The dead don't need money, even if you pay them 10 million. I have no desire to catch drones with my face, oddly enough."

6/ "The answer is because the training of a young contract soldier is 2 weeks. They didn't teach me anything during conscription, and they won't have time to teach me here either—so what's the point then? Catching drones with my face instead of everyone else?…"

7/ 3️⃣ Support/readiness to go (duty, honour)

"Otherwise, we don't know that training takes up to 3 weeks and then we're straight forward, ready to storm. We need 2-3 months of preparation to start with, and then change tactics."

8/ “I promised my pregnant wife that I wouldn't go anywhere. If they call me up for mobilisation, I won't run away, but I promised myself I wouldn't go. I feel ashamed, as if I'm hiding behind my wife and children🤦”

9/ 4️⃣ Criticism of the elite / social injustice

"Right-wingers and liberals should fight first and foremost for a right-wing liberal state. Where are the children of the ruling party and nomenklatura elite?

10/ "P.S. The leftists once fought en masse and voluntarily for THEIR state. And yet..."

11/ "What are we fighting for?! For the interests of the oligarchs?! And die to leave this land, women, and children to the Central Asian horde and Islamism?! Well, let their children fight. Or themselves..."

12/ 5️⃣ Family motives / caring for loved ones

"I'm 42 years old. Work, home, wife, children. How can I give it all up? Just up and quit?"

13/ “They don’t go to war because we have a strategy of defeat. That’s how everything is going ‘according to plan.’ February 2022. Plan A. In February 2022, our brilliant leaders had a plan. The Georgian scenario. They went in, scared them a bit, changed the government…”

14/ 6️⃣ Unclear goals / no point

“Wars come in all shapes and sizes, but going to the grave for some Jewish deal—fuck it...”

15/ “Because of Shoigu, because of Puzik [notorious Russian commander], because of the bloody assaults, a bloodbath will soon begin on the streets of Russian cities with Wahhabis, and I’m who knows where, who knows why.

16/ "If anything happens, the Russians will save me, help me, and all the perks go to the Chechens and Tajiks, so…”

17/ 7️⃣ Material risks / mistrust of payments

“Even this official is talking about 7-8 million, but when the contract is signed, they don't give that much; they pay that much as 'coffin money' [a death benefit].”

18/ "Nobody wants to trade their lives for money, and the vague concept of the Special Military Operation doesn't resonate with anyone."

19/ 8️⃣ Distrust of the state/contract terms

"Because it's a one-way ticket. A permanent contract is one thing, and the management is sometimes a bit dumb, and that happens too often. And dying for the elite and seven million in your pocket is kind of sad."

20/ "If the contract wasn't permanent, but for a year with a guarantee that they won't force you to extend it, then there would be more [that would join]."

21/ "Personally, I've already fought for my [side]. They're not joining, in my opinion, because the state is lying about the terms. You sign for a year, but in reality, the contract is endless... And normal people don't join because it's a complete scam."

22/ 9️⃣ Home front and family security

"Because they see that the country is being destroyed from within: corruption, migrants, the idiocy of officials, the privileged status of some republics..."

23/ "And what are we fighting for in our fourth year? It's unclear. "We started with the Russian world, and what's the end result? That migrants will live happily instead of us? What's going on in the country? And endless red lines, partners, and other rhetoric…" /end

Source:
t.me/AlexCarrier/13…

Not sure what's happened to post 2, but here it is:

This thread continues a look into the responses submitted by over 4,000 Telegram users to Russian warblogger Alex Kartavykh's question of why "you're ... still fixing a stove in civilian life ... and you're still not storming Pokrovsk".

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1975617573946585577