[Pointman]

Putin's rhetoric is getting weaker each day. Now he says that sanctions are a price Russian people have to pay for their freedom and independence. Well, before the war we had just as much "freedom and independence", as we have now. In fact, we had way more freedom - at least we had western media in the country and had a little bit of free speech, compared to now. We also could use Udemy, Facebook, could fly to other countries... We also could trade western securities (I had few Amazon shares for instance). We definitely lost a lot of freedom, rather than gained freedom at the price of sanctions, as Putin implies.

Yet, polls say that support for war and Putin's popularity are allegedly rising. That's because people don't tell true in polls. If a random man calls me and asks whether I support the war and Putin in general, I would say "yes". There's no incentive for me to say "no". I would sure say "yes" and move on with my life. So does everyone.