[inglor_cz]

I am a Czech with a Bulgarian father and I understood the feelings in this article perfectly. The 90s were pretty similar all across the former Eastern Bloc, excluding Russia proper; a time of massive change and also hope for a better future.

Well, better future is here, but there is nothing more to aspire to anymore. No radical improvement to hope for. All changes are now marginal and usually translate to "more stuff in shops".

Also, I would say that countries and cities are plenty colored. There is a world apart between, say, cosmopolitan St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. If the mentality of the former held sway in Russia, there probably would be no war.

(And yeah, I know that Putin's rise to power happened in Petersburg first, but he didn't really fit into the spirit of the city and now dwells elsewhere.)

[kubanczyk]

> a world apart between, say, cosmopolitan St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk

Please tell more? If there were/are any drastic differences, I wasn't seeing them emanating here onto Poland.

[inglor_cz]

Ofc those Russian people who are unhappy with the status quo in Putin's Reich will shut up right now. The propaganda that streams into the world is coordinated and one of the prevailing motifs is "united Holy Russia against all the enemies".

But Putin's mafia is still somewhat afraid to start mobilization in Petersburg and Moscow. Both cities are a potential mutiny threat, full of young people including students, and not easy to subdue if shit hits the fan.

Peterburg is the more global of those two, as contact with Sweden, Finland and Estonia was extensive prior to the war, while the location of the city with respect to the core of Russia is a bit peripheral. The ports of Helsinki and Tallinn used to have a thick schedule of ferries there.

Russia as a whole cannot become part of the EU, not in 30 years at least, possibly ever. But, in the improbable case of St. Petersburg seceding from the empire, we could integrate them a lot better than some Balkan states.

[thriftwy]

I live in St. Petersburg but my family and friends live in Moscow, in the South and elsewere.

The last thing I desire is having a border with passport control and customs between them and me. No amount of kissing with your Swedish and Baltic friends would compensate for that.

Russians are no longer fools, they now understand how that particular meat grinder works.