Disagree. Russian culture is based heavily upon many things that are counterproductive and harmful to others. For example, corruption is not merely an aspect of the government, but the culture of Russia. Corruption is evident in every aspect of their society, it is practically expected that your boss steals from the company, and that you steal from your boss, it is why there are stories from before the Ukraine war of people walking into military supply depots and buying military weapons off of the soldiers there. Alongside that is a culture that promotes abuse, that celebrates poverty and stealing from others to get by, it is partly why the domestic abuse rate is so high and why Russian soldiers stole Toilets during the opening of the war. Then you also have the part of Russian culture which insists upon dominating all other cultures around them, as they have done for a thousand years, suppressing the natives and trying to eradicate their cultures, and insisting that Anything that is opposed to this is evil, or “Nazi” as they now use these days. That’s not even getting into issues like the mass raping of children that we saw in the opening of the war, and the fact the soldiers would film it to share with friends and family, who would collectively Laugh at the horrific crimes being done. When citizens are asked about these crimes, their response is always the same; “It didn’t happen, but also they deserved it.”

This is not simply an issue of a horrible government, it is an issue of a culture that promotes Evil and claims it to be good purely because it is Russians doing it. Even their religion is just another arm of this, promoting their evil ways. Also, even if it was simply due to a “shit government” it seems odd that Every Russian government in their history has been mired in horrific things, every single ruler, every regime, there is not one point in time where you can say that the government wasn’t shit.

In the words of George Orwell: “A people who elect criminals are not victims, but accomplices.”