[Andrew_nenakhov]

> Now imagine living not so close to "center" (the mostly white west of the country)

You seem to have a very limited understanding of Russia.

First, nobody in Russia ever thinks of its population in racial terms like 'white'. At most, there are ethnic terms like 'russians', 'caucasians' [0], 'tatars', 'yakuts', etc. -- there aren't even any genuine Asians here but the students from China.

And no, thanks to the soviets, the cultural influence between most of these ethnic groups is next to unexistent.

More, you say 'the white west' of the country, but this is again a misconception: the closer you get to the 'west' (or, more correctly, to the center, like Moscow and Saint Petersburg), the less 'russian' it is. The percent of ethnic russian population is far higher in eastern parts of the country and on the outskirts than in Moscow, where the percent of ethnical russians is the lowest.

> Remember that most most people in Russia support the government and do what they are told.

Yeah, Putin once again thanks you for your service. You have no idea what real Russia looks like, as I've proven above when I disproved your misconceptions, yet, you go out of your way and still spread Putin's narrative how popular he is.

In reality, Putin stays in power because he has an army of paid thugs who'll kill anyone who opposes him. If Putin would participate in any honest elections vs just about anyone who is not one of his cronies, he'd lose such elections in a landslide. That's why he will never do the Lukashenko's mistake of allowing even a simple housewife to run against him, which ran, and won, so Lukashenko had no blatantly falsify the election results and suppress the protests to stay in power. Genuinely popular leaders do not need such precautions. Putin knows he is deeply unpopular, Russians know he is deeply unpopular, and only unwitting Putin's henchmen from the West spread Putin's narrative that he is a very popular leader. Lol.

[0]: No, not 'caucasians' as americans understand the term, but people from actual Caucasus region, like Chechnya, Dagestan, Armenia, Georgia -- the actual Georgia, not the one which is next to South Carolina :-D

[throwaway290]

I think you are living in a different Russia.

There is a good reason to use the term "white" and that is because non-whites (you know what I mean) are discriminated. I have various stories but I won't go in detail. I don't blame you, I didn't really think about it in that way for most of my life.

And if you talk to more normal people you may find out that it's not just force, many people follow "party line" because they think the government says truth. Control of information is a magical thing

[Andrew_nenakhov]

You repeat this mantra 'Control of information is a magical thing', but it doesn't become true just because you repeat it. USSR controlled the information far more tightly, yet, nobody believed the government and laughed at them -- I'm old enough to remember that. See, propaganda has a hard time competing with an empty fridge and empty stomach, and in the end, empty stomach prevails. People see quite clearly that living in Russia becomes harder every day, and of course they link it to the unchangeable leadership of the country. After 25 years, people are simply tired of Putin, so any claims that he has 80% approval rating are simply laughable.

Regarding your other point, no, 'Non-whites' are not really discriminated. In fact, Russians themselves are the most underrepresented ethnic group in all levels of power in Russia -- and it always has been that way. It was so in Russian Empire, in Soviet Union, and stays true in Putin's Russia as well. What you're referring to is the cargo-cult practice by some ppl who try to mimic modern Western political tactics. Many have noticed that claimed victimhood is beneficial in the modern-day West, so they try to emulate that by pretending to be a victim of some oppression -- that's where your stories originate from.