What is your attitude towards Russians?

[SnowBall86]

I wonder what do people think about Russians.. Have your views been affected by the war? Have you met any Russians and asked them what do they think about the war?

I don't have negative views of any nationality as I'm not a xenophobe.

@Giggorata

Your poor DIL ❤️‍🩹 I hope she gets good news about all of her family soon.

I'm embarassed & upset that in the UK. (I presume?) she'd scared to answer her phone & speak Russian. I expect the type of person who would confront her wouldn't know which language she was speaking anyway.

Please reassure her that many of us support Russian individuals, like her, as much as Ukrainian individuals.

You are correct. Putin is Russian. Russians aren't Putin.

@SnowBall86 why are you 'othering' Russian people? They didn't ask for this situation any more than we did or the Ukrainians did.

My best mates older brother has just gone to Russia to see his wife & their children. He's going out there to live next year. I wish they'd come here, but her parents are Elderly & she can't leave them.

i don't like the tone of your post & I think you're trying to stir up trouble.

so if you've ever thought about taking up jogging, don't let us stop you.

i appreciate what you’re saying but I think you might be reading too much into the tone of my post. All I’m trying to do is to see what opinions people hold and a forum like this is a perfect place since it’s mostly anonymous. I am actually thrilled by the answers so far. As you can see from many answers a lot of Russians feel ashamed of their identity at the moment. Many going as far as to quit talking in their mother tongue in public. However, the majority of posters admitted that they hold no negative views of Russians… rather of Putin’s regime. As for the question about the war, based on the conversations I had with my Russian friends, I feel like it actually doesn’t make Russians uncomfortable being asked about it but gives them an opportunity to put things right and reiterate that they separate themselves from the regime.

Don’t know any Russians but I wouldn’t think anything bad about them just because of the war.. I’d base my opinion on each person individually based on their personality and how they treat me and others around us… no different to how I form an opinion on anyone else in daily life.

Not the Russian people’s fault that there is war.

I have known & worked with Russian people and have visited Russia twice. The people I met & got to know were mainly young or young-ish & well educated. I liked them & got on well with them. Most had visited other European countries, and that influenced what they wanted for their own : For Russia to become a normal, peaceful, prosperous, democratic European country. The drove VWs, used iPhones & watched the Premier League. They wanted partnership with the U.K., US & EU, not conflict. Not much chance of that happening any time soon, though…

I just feel really sad for most Russian people who are just living their lives hoping for a better more open country for their children. It looked like this was the way it was going a balance between being a little more open to the West and good trade and travel etc.
Now they have been sent back to the 1950's practically unless super rich and protected.
So many Russians bravely protested the war and were arrested.
I remember seeing a clip of a lady buying a Teddy in IKEA as it closed down and crying and it really made me sad that the majority have no wish for war and did not want this direction.

Let us not lose site of the fact that a sizeable minority at the very least - some 50m Russians - support Putin and The Kremlin

Do you know what happens to people when they’re open about the fact that they don’t support Putin?

I work with a couple of Russian women, intelligent professional women who came here for a better life and / or to study and ended up marrying English husbands.
I feel awful for them. They are so torn - can't stand what Putin is doing, sick with worry about whether they'll ever be able to go back and see their family again - and yet don't like British people pronouncing on it all. They don't really want to discuss it.

That they're human beings just like everyone else. There's good and bad in every nationality and at the moment for any Russian people living away from families and home it must be absolutely terrifying wondering if you'll ever see them again. It most certainly hasn't changed my perspective of my Russian friend.

@ValleyOfSomewhere oh yes, the new money. It’s the same in pretty any other nationality. I doubt they will support Putin though.

@Giggorata i feel awfully sorry for your DIL. It must be awful for her.
please assure her that (although it’s quite expensive) it’s possible to fly to Russia via Turkey or Dubai. A friend of mine did this journey with her two children last month and they had no trouble coming back.

There’s a particular one that I think is an arsehole (initials VP) and I reckon his mates are a bit suspect.

As for the other several million - no opinion. As I don’t know them.

I've never met any one from Russia. But the country as a whole I think is behind in it human & animal rights. Only the people can change that over time.

I’ve never met a Russian I didn’t get on with, their sense of humour is culturally very compatible with English culture (as opposed to, say, French people, who I often just don’t understand their thinking).

I know a couple of Russians at the moment, and we only spoke about the war very briefly, early on. They were in shock and heartbroken about it “he’s turning my country into North Korea” and scared about when/if they’ll be able to meet their Russian parents again. They’re also worried that their savings in Russia may be confiscated by Putin because they work in ‘the West’.

The working people in Russia? I feel very sorry for them, they have no freedom, rights or even access to true news.

The oligarchs surrounding Putin and his government staff? Accessories to murder, the lot of them.

Putin? Delusional vicious paranoid murderer of the same type as Hitler, the world won’t be safe until he’s gone.

The Russian army? Mostly scary men who will be a whole lot more scary now they’ve been ordered to terrorise and torture. But, many of them are conscripts who had no choice about joining the army, have been given crap equipment, brainwashed, and will be shot if they disobey orders, so I also feel kinda sorry for them. Also worth remembering that some groups of Russian soldiers have shot their commanders rather than attack Ukrainians.

Anyone who sees “the Russians” as one group of people and feels one way about them is an idiot.

If anything you could say that is it more accurate to judge British people by the actions of their governments as it is a democratically elected government- unlike the Russian government.

Is it fair to say that most Russians support Putin in the same way that most Germans supported The Nazis in 1930s?
In both cases there is a feeling that the country is 'hard done by' or that other countries are a threat.
It wouldn't be MN without a dig at Boris would it?
All Western nations supported Putin in trade and cultural ways to try and involve Russia in more normal ways.

What do think about English people? Do you like them?

I do. Obviously, population in general is a mixed bag but culturally I wouldn’t change a thing. I live in South of England and find that people here are polite, welcoming, warm and friendly. They are also very selfless, doing so much for the community.

When I’m told a client is Russian at work I internally fill with dread because it means the money laundering/risk checks will be an absolute nightmare! Not the poor clients fault obviously.

I know two Russian people on a more personal level. One I feel terribly sorry for, the day after the invasion started they came to work looking horribly embarrassed and was so relieved when people asked how they were and were they ok, did they need support etc.

The other is a twat who happens to be Russian. He thinks Russia is the infallible motherland and we are all sheep who believe the western media and that Russia is too powerful that the west can’t touch it. It begs the question why he chooses not to live there, but there you go.