Viktor Shenderovich: Hopelessness is the main social pillar of Vladimir Putin's regime

Spring conscription has begun in Russia. Journalists report that conscripts are being urged to sign contracts and go to war. The Russian publicist Viktor Shenderovich talks about what encourages Russians to agree.

"The hopelessness of Russian life is such that it is lost. Life is worth nothing - in a legal sense, by itself (compare only how much the life of a dead American soldier costs and ours), but it is also worth nothing mentally,” says the publicist on the air of the Current Moment.

"Take a depressed region with no work and no meaning to life. And then there are some changes, I want to rush anywhere.

The Patriarch's Ponds citizens or those places where Gazprom's money is circulating are in no particular hurry to see Bakhmut - they don't care how much a cup of coffee costs: 5 euros or 105.

And where three cups of coffee is a monthly salary, they are ready to rush to war from hopelessness and despondency. Maybe they will give money, or you will become a hero.

This is a tragic story about hopelessness. And this hopelessness is the main social pillar of Vladimir Putin's regime. When people have something to live for: they have access to education, travel, the realization of dreams - then a person can be kidnapped, stuffed into a trench, and he will run away from there, because he knows how he wants to live.

And hopelessness makes a person apathetic: “well, you can try, at least like that.” Putin himself created this hopelessness and collects military ingots on it. People go to die and think "well, at least they will give money." Absolute fatalism.

Now Putin is trying to negotiate a "truce" with Ukraine, the expert adds. But he would like to end the war on his own terms, being the victor.

When I see calls for peace today, it smacks of stupidity, if not provocation. There can be no peace today, there can only be the defeat of Putin or the rest of the world. Putin would like to fix his “gain”, but for Ukraine to fix its losses. And then, they say, from this point, to negotiate. But Ukraine, for all its fatigue and bloodshed, will not give Putin a favorable peace."