How the special operation affected the Russian layman

As well as the willingness to endure the current difficulties and reduce consumption standards.

Dmitry Mikhailichenko, political analyst

The past six months since the start of the SVO have shown that despite the most severe shock, the authorities cannot and/or do not want to correct the basic apolitical mood of the society and totalitarianize reality.

The first months of the NWO were characterized by a sharp increase in the politicization of society, which resulted in large-scale support for the authorities and the actualization of imperial patterns of public consciousness. These patterns are very significant, as they perform a compensatory function in relation to the continuing decline in the standard of living of Russians.

The (already high) role of propaganda in the public consciousness has sharply increased, and instead of football and entertainment shows, the Russians were offered propaganda and Orwellian motives for the formation of an anti-Western hatred.

Recent studies show that this model is unsustainable in the medium range and only leads to a decrease in public attention to propaganda and the restoration of apoliticality, which is an established and convenient model for the authorities. The SVO has become routinized, but the rating of trust in the authorities has remained, but often it is based on conformism, apoliticality and ritual support, which does not imply total involvement.

The absolute majority does not consider it possible to interfere in politics, is eliminated and, what is very important, relieves itself of any responsibility for its course.

In this regard, attempts to totalitarianize public support, which were noticeable in the first months after the start of the NWO, are also largely limited. Society wants to continue to exist in the form of apolitical inhabitants who are concerned about their own material well-being.

The case of E. Roizman is indicative here: it even reveals the need to improve repressive mechanisms. The authorities do not seem to want to put him in jail, they are not even ready to deprive him of his freedom of movement, but it is very important for them that he shut up and turn into an ordinary apolitical Russian who is allowed to do charity work, but is not allowed to write posts on social networks on political topics.

Meanwhile, the past six months have led to a number of significant effects: among them, the weakening of the functions of social control, a decrease in the willingness of citizens to criticize the authorities, increased censorship and self-censorship, an increasing fear of unemployment and falling living standards, as well as a willingness to endure the current difficulties and reduce consumption standards.

All this makes the Russian society even more atomized and weaker, which means that attempts to totalize it in the medium term are quite likely. However, this weakness may turn out to be apparent and bring completely unexpected and uncalculated effects by sociologists.