[older]

You can't be more wrong when you say "just like Russia". It is not even close. The killings of journalists, repressions... The last independent newspaper has to close its activity because it is not possible anymore to report truth while complying to the Russian laws: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/28/russias-novaya-gaze...

All this with Russian government/president approval rating of 70%.

[jacobr1]

Without independent media, how can we trust the approval rating is accurate?

[older]

Levada-Center is the best bet we have: https://www.levada.ru/en/ratings/ But when even Russians who live in Germany are rallying in support of the Russia's war it is reasonable to assume that those ratings are accurate.

[csydas]

No, it really doesn't follow. The subset of russians living in germany who approve of the war has no bearing or relationship to all russians.

The "living in germany" part doesn't contradict the same concerns that those living in russia have, as like those living in russia, the emigrated russians likely have:

- family still in russia - ties to russia (financial, business, family, etc) - desire to visit russia without having to deal with legal harassment for actions done abroad - desire to be able to assist people (family/friends) living in russia without compromising them

This does not mean that they are for or against a current government, but rather, that the proposed logic is specious as it tries to create a separation where it is not probable there is one while simultaneously extrapolating the results of a small sample size across a population that supposedly is without the influence of Russia.

[older]

Well, maybe you're right but I'm not so sure. After watching recent interviews with random people on the streets of Russian cities. Here's interesting thread on twitter by someone sharing his experience calling random Russians and trying to talk: https://twitter.com/GentileOslo/status/1506663082634145797

[account42]

You can never get a completely accurate approval ratings. However there is enough evidence that a nontrivial percentage of russians does not disprove of the war. Besides the ones already mentioned in this thread, don't forget that it is not Putin personally fighting in Ukraine or arresting protesters or posting propaganda. Does it matter if it is 70% or 40% when it is obviously enough for the state to continue its control over the populace and thus could also compel their IT companies to work for Kremlin needs and against their users.