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I get the feeling Ukraine and Belarus are mostly almost the same as Russia culturally, like they're about as much like Russia as Ireland is like England or even as much like Russia as Germany is like Austria.
They are very alike but not the same. Like Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It's the same people, they speak almost the same language, their culture is very alike but they got a few differences, I'm sure a russian can point those out. I've only been to Russia though, but have a russian friend who told me this.
I had a couple trips to Ukraine when I lived in Poland. The gap between these two countries is HUGE, when crossing the border you are leaving EU and entering real third world - damaged roads, houses, very poor people etc. From what I know only Moscow (and maybe St Petersburg) is a city where many rich people live, all other parts of Russia are extremely poor. What are these countries alike? They are; all of them are Orthodox Christian (Western Slavs are Catholic), use cyryllic alphabet (Western Slavs use latin alphabet), and all of them are kept under Russian pressure. In Poland many people call all Eastern Slavs colloquially "Ruski" - Russians.
moskiter, I wouldn't call them EXTREMELY poor. I am from Kazan, Russia and to be honest I would like to come back one day from the US to live the rest of my life here.
I am serious.
Kazan is quite a big city with more than 1000 year old history (it is called the third capital of Russia) full of colleges, sport stadiums, theatres, museums, parks, shopping malls, restaurants, it is a city of 2 big main religions, so you can find both Christian churches and Mosques and there are other religions, too.
And looking at the way my native city is growing and developing now I can say that it is very fast, if you compare what we had 10 years ago and what we have now the difference is enormous. Just give us time... Kazan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
And it's not even the third largest city in Russia, only the 6-th and still growing...
I base my opinion on recent Chicago Public Radio broadcasts which I often listen to. Anyway Russia is still so authoritarian that not many citizens of EU ever visits this country, even though there is a lot in Russia worth visiting. Russia doesn't want to cooperate with EU and NATO, she still thinks of builing an empire while most of her citizens live in poverty - this makes Russia so unpopular among other Europeans. Nonetheless recently I've noticed some good gestures fom Medvedev towards the west, let's hope Russia will become more pro-European in the future.
Anyone here know how the Medvedev-Putin power arrangement is viewed by Russians? Do they have any illusions about the scope of Putin's power, and if not do they even care?
Anyone here know how the Medvedev-Putin power arrangement is viewed by Russians? Do they have any illusions about the scope of Putin's power, and if not do they even care?
There are a lot of Russians that like Putin and Medvedev and there are a lot of people who actually don't. There is actually a term "Medvedput" that consists if both names and it shows that many people see that the way they act looks like it is the same person.
Speaking about illusions... most citizens of the country (not only Russia) want to see the improvement of their lives when they choose the President.
All I can say speaking from the experience of my family and my friends we live a lot better now than we did 10 years ago. I wouldn't compare this level with European or American ones but it is getting a lot better, at the same time it is a well known fact that "watch SNN or BBC" and if they tell bad things about a Russian leader it means he is good
For example most Russians don't like Gorbachev and his politics was very appreciated in the West, to what the Russians say:"Of course they appreciate his actions and ideas, he managed to do what the West hadn't been able to do for ages-to destroy the USSR in a fast and easy way".
Speaking about attitude after living both in the West and in the East I can say that in the West they have the same propaganda that the westerners have always seen as a Soviet thing. It works both ways.
As for the average person his attitude is often based on what the media says and on many superstitions from the past.
And the media often shows what the average person WANTS to hear and see.
All I can say was that in Russia and the USSR our TV showed a lot of movies and TV news reports about life in the US, when I came to the US for the first time in 2003 all I can say that what our Russian TV showed was the truth, I didn't have any cultural shock at all.
But at the same time both I and many Russians from the forums of the Russians living in the US often discuss the fact why so many Americans have such a crazy idea about what REAL Russia is like now. How can a smart looking person with MA or MS really believe that the country that was the first in the world to send the man to the Outer Space lives like it is the Medieval time and ask questions if we have electricity in Russia. HOW?!And it is not the only case, it is mainly the rule, so my impression is that maybe the western media shows the truth about Russia but it is often the negative truth only, for some reason the average person doesn't want to see anything except for poor evil Russia with a bunch of problems.
Thanks for the response, Olushka. Is it pretty widely accepted that Putin is still the man despite having ceded the presidency or do most just see it as a partnership between the two?
Also, what kinds of people are most likely to approve of Putin? Not approve?
I've never been to Belarus, but almost all the former soviet republics still have strong Russian influence. I visited the Crimean peninsula (Krym) in Ukraine in 2008 and most of the people there wanted to belong directly to Russia instead of the Ukraine.
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