My daughter and I are Ukrainian. When we met Russians on vacation our fears were realized

10 comments

1. I’m Canadian and met some in Egypt, sharm. Horrible and this was in 2015 ish. Entitled, rude, no class.

2. This is a great view into the mindset of the Russian citizens.

   There is only one solution… Remove Putin in embarrassment and failure.

3. Met a Russian family at the early months of the war.

   They seemed nice, but I could feel they began to feel awkward when they saw Ukrainian ribbon I was wearing. And they seemingly thought I was from Ukraine. I replied honestly, but said I support them.

   Maybe they weren’t bad, but I know that many Russians worldwide have said they got treated very badly and insulted on the streets. So perhaps they also feared I would yell at them

4. Last time I was on vacation in Europe, I encountered a Russian on a train in the Netherlands. I was wearing a shirt with a small tryzub. The woman became agitated and started blurting out random slurs in russian while staring me down. I asked if there was a problem. She just let out a laugh, got up and walked off. It was bizarre.

5. People often compare the USA and other Western countries to places like Russia and China, suggesting that there is a comparable amount of brainwashing going on.

   The reality couldn’t be more different. The US is very polarized, there are loads of extremists, there are loads of very tolerant people, and there is also a spectrum of people in between. In Russia there is just one singular thought which is driven by insecurity and hate of the ‘other’. All other narratives only exist in the minds of a very small number of more independent-minded people, who are forced to keep quiet.

6. Might depend on the Russian and where they have lived. Some Russians who have lived outside Russia are not Pro Putin or for the war.

7. Saw russians in thailand 2015. Rude wanted to pick fights in fucking Bangkok at 3pm

8. There are 3 broad groups of people left in Russia who you might meet on holiday.

   1) Z-heads. Fully support the war, brainwashed to think Russia is in the right or don’t give a shit as long as Russia is strong.

   2) The disconnected. Underneath they know its wrong but can’t admit it. They either do their best to ignore the war or accept it, based on propaganda as something that Russia needs to do. They don’t really support it but they don’t oppose it.

   3) Those who are against, but are trapped. They can’t leave Russia, they can’t speak out against it, and even on holiday they will be wary of speaking their mind because of concerns they will be reported. Living in a police state they fear the FSB are everywhere.

   Its hard to put percentages to these things, and as the war drags on, the more people become affected by the propaganda. But i suspect the second group is by far the largest. Nobody wants to believe their country is evil, so they have to disconnect, turn off their brains, and hope it all ends.

9. The Russians we met were mostly young, polite, tolerant — but all of them supported the invasion of my country and did not feel any moral responsibility for our destroyed cities and the death of civilians of Ukraine.

10. Years ago I was in a Finnair flight. Some Russian woman got nasty because she, coming on at the last minute, could not find a place for her bag. I don’t speak any Slavic languages, but after she had been shut up by the attendant, an Estonian passenger who saw the whole thing said she was bitching about my bag being in what she had decided was her space. We laughed, and then when disembarking I made sure to make eye contact with her as I removed my bag, and winked.