How much support does Vladimir Putin have among Russians for the invasion of Ukraine?
A Russian soldier who lost a limb in Ukraine is voicing frustration over not receiving the promised compensation of 3 million rubles (around $30,000 USD) for his severe injury and 812,000 rubles ($8,120 USD) for disability. These payments were pledged by military recruiters, but he claims neither he nor his comrades have received them.
In a video appeal, he calls out to Vladimir Putin multiple times, expressing that this is his last hope to secure the promised compensation. He explains that his previous written requests addressed to Putin were redirected to the Ministry of Defense, but he has received no response.
This soldier’s story is just one among thousands. In 2023 alone, over 140,000 applications for wheelchairs and prosthetics were filed in Russia by injured soldiers.
Meanwhile, police in Moscow have been conducting street raids since Putin’s recent “inauguration,” detaining young men and taking them to recruitment centers. There, they undergo medical evaluations, are declared “fit for military service” (even if they have chronic health issues that should prevent them from being drafted), and are then sent to military units.
Those who already had documents with the military where it’s recorded that they are ill, are still detained and not allowed to leave.
The men are told they would have to serve in the army anyway, and they better sign that they agree to do it.
At a the military office on Ugreshskaya Street, several dozen conscripts who are unfit or partially fit for service are being forcibly detained. Their family members came to the place and recorded video messages demanding the release of the men.
Looks like while the Russian media promotes “overwhelming support” for Putin’s invasion, not many Russians are willing to allow their family members anywhere near the army.
And those who survived the meat grinder of the Ukrainian front aren’t having much support — not even now, while Putin still needs great PR for the war in Ukraine.
Imagine what’s going to happen when the war is over and those who lost their health there become an annoying reminder of the biggest blunder in the recent history of Russia.
If you remember, Stalin loaded maimed WWII veterans in paddy wagons and shipped them to remote islands and locations that they couldn’t leave — so that the streets of the Soviet cities weren’t disturbed by the unsightly invalids, forced to beg to survive. That’s where these invalids died. They were sent there to die.
And that was the war that the Soviets bragged they have “won”.
