JRL NEWSWATCH: “Many Russians Feel a Deep Unease Over Going to War” – New York Times

“After months of tuning out American warnings that Vladimir Putin was preparing to invade Ukraine, Russians now realize that ‘this is not a game.'”

“… after several television appearances by [] Putin stunned and scared some longtime observers, that [previous] sense of casual disregard turned to a deep unease. … Russia has not seen any of the jubilation that accompanied the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Going to war [reportedly] is one of Russians’ greatest fears …. [At] Monday’s Security Council meeting … Putin at times browbeat and humiliated his most powerful and senior officials into telling him that he should recognize the separatist territories. The central message of this extraordinary spectacle of fealty, which the Kremlin taped, edited and aired … appeared to be that it was [] Putin alone who had the power to chart Russia’s course. … The idea of a war with Ukraine was unfathomable to many Russians in part because millions of them have friends and relatives there. …”

Sunday is the seventh anniversary of the Moscow assassination of Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, who had been one of the staunchest opponents of Russia’s would-be annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

Click here for: “Many Russians Feel a Deep Unease Over Going to War; After months of tuning out American warnings that Vladimir Putin was preparing to invade Ukraine, Russians now realize that ‘this is not a game.'” – New York Times/ Anton Troianovski