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A group of Russians smile at the border crossing Verkhny Lars between Georgia and Russia on Sept. 23, 2022. Long lines of vehicles have formed at border crossings into Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization to bolster his troops in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)

Russians flee the draft as the reality of the war in Ukraine hits home

Russians crossing land borders into Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Georgia to avoid being drafted into the Ukraine war are experiencing very different receptions.
Telegram users in Russia get access to more information than their compatriots who only watch television. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Russians with diverse media diet more likely to oppose Ukraine war

Most Russians get their news from government-controlled television. But those who look to Telegram, an online platform, are more likely to have views that break from the official position.
A Ukrainian soldier wanders down a railway past the bodies of dead Russian soldiers on the outskirts of Irpin, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

How fairy tales shape fighting spirit: Ukraine’s children hear bedtime stories of underdog heroes, while Russian children hear tales of magical success

The Russian army has fared poorly and the Ukrainian military has fared well, defying experts’ predictions about the war in Ukraine. Can children’s fairy tales help explain the difference?
Everyday Russians, like these people in Moscow, may shoulder much of the burden of the world’s economic sanctions aimed at Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs. AFP via Getty Images

Economic sanctions may make Russians’ lives worse – without stopping Putin’s assault on Ukraine

Personalist dictators tend to shield the elites who support them from the economic pain of sanctions by pushing costs onto regular people.
The McDonald’s flagship restaurant at Pushkinskaya Square – the first one of the chain, opened in the USSR on Jan. 31, 1990 – in central Moscow on March 13, 2022, McDonald’s last day in Russia. AFP via Getty Images

The West thinks that Russians, suffering from sanctions, will end up abandoning Putin – but history indicates they won’t

Those placing their faith in sanctions to turn Russians against the war in Ukraine know little about the country, its history and people, write two scholars who have studied Russian culture.

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