Photo/Illutration Russian President Vladimir Putin addressees the nation in Moscow on Feb. 24. (Taken from the official website of the presidential executive office of Russia)

“Do you support the actions of Russian forces in Ukraine?” was among questions asked in a recent Russian opinion poll, the results of which were released last week.

I was stunned that more than 80 percent of respondents expressed support. Questions of the poll’s accuracy aside, the figure was still beyond my comprehension.

Looking for an explanation, I searched all accessible Russian news sites.

A battle map shown on the tabloid daily Komsomolskaya Pravda caught my eye. Areas marked as “under Russian control” were several times more extensive than in any map I have seen in Japanese newspapers.

Russia’s state-run television reported on rescue operations of injured Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops. The citizens gushed before the TV cameras, “We were saved” and “Russian forces are our hope.”

But what shocked me the most were reports from Bucha, the site of Russian genocide that has come under global condemnation.

Images of abandoned corpses were accompanied by narrations such as, “A hand (of a corpse) suddenly moved” and “This one tried to get up.”

The Russian defense ministry claimed that “the photos and videos were prepared by Ukraine for the West.” In other words, Moscow wants to say they were faked.

Talk of fake news, and the 2003 German tragicomedy film “Good Bye, Lenin!” immediately comes to mind.

The story is set in East Germany at the end of the Cold War. The protagonist’s mother is on her sickbed, and is unaware of the fall of the Berlin Wall. She still believes that East Germany is the greatest nation in the world.

Out of concern for her, the protagonist produces a fictional news program that proclaims, “Socialism has finally triumphed over capitalism.” The expression on his mother’s face seems to suggest she believes it all, but then, it could also be that she was only pretending to believe.

Under the nation’s press censorship, do the Russian people believe totally what the government has to say? Or do they have doubts, but are still holding on to an image they hope is true?

In the above-mentioned opinion poll, only 14 percent said they do not support the actions of Russian forces.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 9

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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