My read is that Russians (just like any population) have the same mix of people with different inborn attitudes and personality types.  Some are, by nature, prone to be skeptical of their own group.  Not 'team players'.

The Soviets put a lot of effort into propaganda and brainwashing, and while the Russians may have toned it down some in certain ways, probably only a little.  Probably it works well on the bulk of the population, but there is a fair contingent who see through it.

The West certainly put an effort into turning the Russian population 'pro Western', and a fair contingent bought into that.  Plus, the history of the country is such that more families suffered more acutely under previous leaderships.

Russia probably really is more surveilled and less 'free' place than the U.S. even up to this day, and that must cause some people who value freedom a justifiable degree of resentment.  The leadership probably really does have a bunch of scumbags in it, and holdovers from the Soviet and Yeltsin times, and newly minted ones to boot.

Russia really is 'in the right' in many ways vis-a-vis the Ukraine thing, and the underlying reasons are not as opaque to their population as they are to Westerners.  I suspect that support for the activities on intellectual grounds has shifted sharply in the government's direction, and the leadership has experienced a groundswell of vindication about how and why to apply resources.  The ugly face of the West has been laid bare to many people who had leaned in the pro-Western direction.

Plus the country must be benefiting by a justifiable pride in the way the conflict has gone so far.  There must be also simple greed about the plunder that Ukraine operation has become as some of the more rich areas of former Ukraine are pretty firmly in Russian hands.

It must have been galling even to people who had no family in the Russian-speaking areas of former Ukraine that the Ukrainians were assaulting the Russian speakers.  Payback is always fun.

My read is that Russians (just like any population) have the same mix of people with different inborn attitudes and personality types.  Some are, by nature, prone to be skeptical of their own group.  Not 'team players'.

The Soviets put a lot of effort into propaganda and brainwashing, and while the Russians may have toned it down some in certain ways, probably only a little.  Probably it works well on the bulk of the population, but there is a fair contingent who see through it.

The West certainly put an effort into turning the population 'pro Western', and a fair contingent bought into that.  Plus, the history of the country is such that more families suffered more acutely under previous leaderships.

Russia probably really is more surveilled and less 'free' place than the U.S. even up to this day, and that must cause some people who value freedom a justifiable degree of resentment.  The leadership probably really does have a bunch of scumbags in it, and holdovers from the Soviet and Yeltsin times, and newly minted ones to boot.

Russia really is 'in the right' in many ways vis-a-vis the Ukraine thing, and the underlying reasons are not as opaque to their population as they are to Westerners.  I suspect that support for the activities on intellectual grounds has shifted sharply in the government's direction, and the leadership has experienced a groundswell of vindication about how and why to apply resources.  The ugly face of the West has been laid bare to many people who had leaned in the pro-Western direction.

Plus the country must be benefiting by a justifiable pride in the way the conflict has gone so far.  There must be also simple greed about the plunder that Ukraine operation has become as some of the more rich areas of former Ukraine are pretty firmly in Russian hands.

It must have been galling even to people who had no family in the Russian-speaking areas of former Ukraine that the Ukrainians were assaulting the Russian speakers.  Payback is always fun.