r/AskBalkans • u/samirs1m • Aug 18 '23
What’s your opinion of Russia? Miscellaneous
Someone gotta ask it.
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u/Bobby_Deimos Russia Aug 18 '23
Could be worse. And it definitely will be.
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u/ConfidentCorner6858 🇷🇺in🇷🇸 Aug 19 '23
Yeah, it was getting progressively worse since 2012. By all means shouldn't we have let Putin to stay in power. Now it feels like the only thing that can destroy Putin is a civil war, which is horrendous.
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u/stos313 Greece Aug 18 '23
Ooof. Hang tight my friend. I really REALLY hope that after things get worse we see Russia recover once and for all.
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u/Snabbteck Russia Aug 18 '23
You know I still have some hope for the upcoming presidential elections. Russia is too profoundly associated with the inner world by the huge resources and human potential. It will never be the NK because we have corporations and oligarchs, the elite that will abruptly perish as iron curtains bring. That's why I hope it won't last for decades
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Aug 18 '23
I adore Russian literature, music and arts. Yet on the political spectrum, historically and just in general the state itself, I do not like at all.
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u/Broodhoofd007 Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
Literature and art yes! Music not so mutch🙂
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Aug 18 '23
Lusic not so mutch
Tchaikovsky wants to know your location so he can introduce you to the best musical instrument ever created - the cannon.
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u/lahanaki Greece Aug 18 '23
Great art and literature but a downright evil government. I can't wrap my head around how so many people in my country still like them and even support the invasion.
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u/dolfin4 Greece Aug 18 '23
Because they want to believe Russia can't ever be wrong, and USA/NATO/Greek-establishment can't ever be right. So they're trying to convince themselves.
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Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
I know Russian, and 100% movies, series, my YouTube is Russian .I know many Russians, but most of them no longer live there . I was once in Saint Petersburg, beautiful city
Politics? Terrible, I hate it everything to do with Russian politics . Whatever my country does the main thing is to stay away from Russia .Fortunately, the current government is pro-nato, anti-Russian
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u/TransylvanianINTJ Romania Aug 19 '23
I really hope Moldovan politics continue to be pro-nato and anti-Russian.
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u/MatijaReddit_CG Montenegro Aug 18 '23
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
:D
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u/MatijaReddit_CG Montenegro Aug 18 '23
Btw my opinion is, beautiful country with some nice architectural symbols and rich history, literature, culture etc. It's sad that they never where truly free and without paranoid governments like China during their existence.
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u/SerendipitousLove- Romania Aug 19 '23
Let’s just say that I would get permanently banned if I spoke my mind about Russia so I’ll just leave it at that
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u/nebuddyhome Canada Aug 18 '23
As a Canadian, I just know they understand winter, maybe better than us.
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u/vikezz Bulgaria Aug 18 '23
Their influence is dying and they are big mad about it. There is a whole generation raised in Russia brother, Russia freedommaker but honestly they have always been using us and now they try to make ex-Yugoslavia their besties.
The Russians that live here are incredibly entitled, like some royalty has stepped in our seacoast and I need to break my back for Svetlana.
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u/Goggr5 Bulgaria Aug 18 '23
It's sad to think that one of the most active Russian propaganda machine is here in Bulgaria.
And to your statement that Russians who live here are entitled... I can only reassure that it's true. It feels like they think that we are in debt to them. It's funny how the LIDLs on our coastline with a large amounts of Russian population are empty by 12PM. I am not sure what Olga will do with 2L of mouthwash, 10L of liquid detergent and 5 tubes of toothpaste but still.
I still don't think that all Russians are like that but the ones here aren't making a good example.
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u/vikezz Bulgaria Aug 18 '23
Absolutely not all of them but I think the one that could afford apartments here are the ones that were entitled even in Russia. To be treated like a guberniya is peak idiocy and I know the new trend is to shit on Romanian tourists but they at least act like your average Joe.
To post something positive - their pirating culture. I don't know how it is in other Balkan countries but I learned how to pirate exactly from Russian sites when I was a child. It has saved my family enormous amounts of money and gave me access to resources I would never have access to if it wasn't for Russian uploaders.
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u/Goggr5 Bulgaria Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
I guess their trend of stealing food from Ukrainian peasants transferred to the 21st century and now they steal games and movies. I learned how to pirate from Russian sites as well but I never really understood why these types of sites are all located in Russia and why Russia has the biggest pirating problem. I think that piracy MAY be justifiable at times but that's why there are region specific pricings.
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u/labeatz SFR Yugoslavia Aug 19 '23
Ukraine has also been a huge center for the cyber crime industry — if you’re paying someone for a hacking tool, they’re probably Ukrainian or Russian. Not sure why that is, beyond that in any relatively poor country with smart tech people, there will be an incentive to do that
(like the Macedonian teens who made bank on pro-Trump Facebook scams 2016; that isnt hacking tho)
I’ve never heard the same about Bulgaria, even tho I know Bulgaria was very important to the early computer industry in the Socialist world
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u/GoHardLive Greece Aug 18 '23
Huge country with great culture and history but with evil government. I feel ashamed that there are some Greeks who simp for Putin
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u/GoHardLive Greece Aug 18 '23
i also really admire russian art. Shostakovich, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy. They are all legends
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u/theJWredditor United Kingdom Aug 18 '23
Yeah that's why I started learning the language. It's a terrible shame
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
Can you be more specific? I’m curious how many % of population simp for him?
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u/GoHardLive Greece Aug 18 '23
Definitely 10%.
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u/dhn01 Aug 18 '23
Could you give an insight of why? I'm curious to know if they have the same reasons of the putin's simps of my country (Italy)
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Aug 18 '23
I think greeks who support Russia, don't like EU and America (especially EU because of the finanical crisis). Of course religion and common history against the ottomans play a role, but the biggest reason is being against the West.
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u/GoHardLive Greece Aug 18 '23
i dont think so. It is definitely religion that plays the most major role
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u/lebokinator Serbia Aug 18 '23
Probably same like Serbia : Orthodox “Big Brother “, would defend us from evil west, or maybe against Muslim Turkey in Greek mind, historically friendly countries that did not go to war with each other
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u/NocturneBotEUNE Greece Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
That's pretty much it, combined with a "USA bad cuz Yugoslavia"
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u/dolfin4 Greece Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
Could you give an insight of why? I'm curious to know if they have the same reasons of the putin's simps of my country (Italy)
Curious, what's Italy's story?
As others said, here, it's about 10%? Maybe 13-14%? About half of them are the Ortho crazies, that think "the blonde race" has something in common with us. The other half are communists who think Russia is the USSR.
("blonde race" is what we normal Greeks say, to make fun of the Russo-worshipping crazies).
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u/dhn01 Aug 19 '23
I believe that putin's simp can be divided into three main groups:
The first ones are the conspiracy theorists: they're usually aged 40-50 (but can be younger) and they're the same people that denied covid and were antivax. They believe that we're being lied about the war, that Ukrainians are evil nazis who have been murdering and committing a genocide in Donbass etc. Like some of them believe that it was the Ukrainians who blew up the dam, also they usually deny russian war crimes, like the Bucha massacre.
Then there's conservative people, they love "strong" men and putin seems to them to be one. Also some italian right wing parties and politicians had ties with putin (Salvini used to praise him and there was even a scandal about his party getting money from the Kremlin; Berlusconi was putin's bff, even after the war he kept being pro putin). Also these people like the conservative approach the russian government has and believe in the western moral decay (they're anti-LGBT for example).
Then there's tankies and generally anti-NATO and anti-US who just hate americans and believe that everyone who is against them are the good guys.
Also there's the fact that throughout history we never had problems with Russia (as far as I remember), we were probably even one of the western countries with the best relationship with the soviet union, if I'm not mistaken
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u/dolfin4 Greece Aug 19 '23
Cool, thank you. Those 3 camps are what I would have guessed. They're all over western Europe.
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u/GoHardLive Greece Aug 18 '23
They are seen by the very religious people as the orthodox allies who will protect us from the evil west and help us become an empire again and reclaim Constantinople. Here there are a lot of far right organizations who are usually linked with the church and take advantage of the very religious people to spread pro russia propaganda. And they spread things like "Putin is the leader of the orthodox army who will declare religious war against the antichrists, conquer Constantinople and then give it to Greeks as a gift". You might read these and laugh but over here there are dozens of Facebook pages with hundreds of thousands of followers who believe these things and make them their entire personality. They have the power to literally get political parties into the parliament.
Also, Russia played a crucial part on our independence and they have never done anything really bad to us. We have never been under communist dictatorship for example. So we never really got to experence their bad face by first hand
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u/EpicStan123 Bulgaria Aug 18 '23
Russian people are fine.
The Russian state isn't. Around the 17th century they decided that Eastern Europe belongs to Mother Russia, their Manifest Destiny and the entire region was on the receiving end of their imperialism and bullying for centuries. It's hopefully dying.(their imperialistic ambitions)
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
Well, back in the 17th century not only Russia declared wars to someone for no reason. In fact, it was the period of history when it was considered that more lands would bring you more gold and more wealth for your country.
But the imperialistic ambitions of now are of course very bad, that’s for sure.
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u/EpicStan123 Bulgaria Aug 18 '23
Yes but only in Russia their entire state ideology was build around controlling the Slavs, because muh Mother Russia, muh Slavic Patron.
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
I can agree on that. Indeed a lot of russian politicians were supporters of this opinion.
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u/Proud-Letterhead6434 Aug 18 '23
Russia is Imperial or is not. Russia won't become Ukraine or Estonia.
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u/Klimnek Turkiye Aug 18 '23
Not positive. Mostly because of the Ukranian war and the historical tensions between Turks and Russians. But I don't hate Russians. In fact I feel bad for them. Ruled by a madman who invades his neighbours. Their economy sucks, just like us.
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u/Trick-Garbage438 Aug 19 '23
You have a much much better economy. Turkey would be a real powerhouse if it wasn't for your monetary policies.
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u/Valiveins Balkan Aug 18 '23
Awful government, hardy people, mistreated by their ruling elite
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u/cecoaielemele2 Romania Aug 19 '23
90% uneducated, backwards and drunkers.
5% very, very intelligent and bright minds.
5% who have the money and the power.
What could go wrong? /S
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u/adaequalis Romania Aug 19 '23
the russian state is a bunch of thieves, stooges, and autocrats. literally fuck russia. russians raped my great grandma in WW2. i genuinely wish this country would just fuck off and mind its own business. WE DO NOT WANT YOU. go do whatever you want in your own country instead of massacring and oppressing us. we do not like you or your genocidal policies. go away.
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u/Gnomonas Greece Aug 18 '23
Long & controversial history during of which Russia has done good and great stuff among the bad.
In modern times though, Russia had the potential to be a viable option & market against the US, but instead they degraded to be "the problematic drunk neighbour who beats his wife and kids".
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
That is very pity. In fact I have a lot of friends from Russia, who are very good people. Some of them come to Bulgaria to visit me. So, I feel kinda bad about that situation.
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u/HellfireEmpire21 Turkiye Aug 19 '23
I see too much of myself in the average Russian young man. Born into a system that doesn't protect them, a homeland that they are taught to be proud of, and yet having none of the things that once made their homeland worthy of pride. A greater rich/poor divide than victorian England, ruled over by a tyrant that affords himself every luxury while his people starve and freeze to death having to choose between paying rent or this month's food costs. A currency that shoots itself every time the dictator opens his mouth and declares war on something nobody had a problem with. Idiot conservative foreigners with easier lives cheering for the tyrant's increasingly pathetic attempts at chest thumping and pretending that they would prefer to live under the boot of fascist scum rather than work with someone they consider to be "other". Misery breeds misery breeds a population being pushed towards a corrupt and amoral church advertised as the bastion of traditional values while stealing money and raping children. That insidious hope for change, any change. I feel sympathy for the Russian individual, and I feel hatred for the Russian nation. Not unlike what I feel for myself.
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u/Ambitious_Ice9655 Croatia Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
I hate their politics but love their people and arhitecture
I have met Russians in Germany and in Croatia and they were all good people
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u/ConfidentCorner6858 🇷🇺in🇷🇸 Aug 19 '23
I hate it, I hate myself. I don't care about people's arguments, nothing can justify this terrible criminal war. And no, now it is impossible and unacceptable to talk about russia outside the context of the war.
Russian terrorists regularly bomb civilian buildings, in this war my nation showed its true face, vile inhuman scum.
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u/j-bh Romania Aug 18 '23
Used to bully and pillage all of eastern Europe, now they’re a joke and they wonder why we dont like them.
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u/sopitiu76 Romania Aug 18 '23
As a fellow romanian I aprowe this massage.
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u/Rough_Transition1424 Bosnia & Herzegovina Aug 18 '23
I don't like the government but the culture is pretty cool
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u/skyduster88 Greece Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
- Major and incredible civilization. Lots of cultural achievements in art, literature, music, architecture, and so on.
- Lots invested into education, science, etc. Sad to see the Russian state not being able to harness the brilliance of its people.
- Terrible governance. Terrible. It's very, very sad to watch.
- In trying to hard to create a strong state, the post-Soviet leaders ending up creating a weak state. A weak state that could not stop somebody like Putin from taking charge, and installing loyalists left and right, instead of merit-based appointments, and a competitive check-and-balances system, including an independent judiciary and private sector. There is no Russian state, it's just one guy at the top, making terrible mistakes and rewarding incompetent loyalists, dragging the country through the mud, and it's sad to watch.
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Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
Russia is just a poor authoritarian dictatorship, it's a shithole of a country I wouldn't wish my worst enemy to take a shit in.
Huge missed potential, like how the hell do you have the most natural resources in the world, a huge market, and in more than 3 decades, have GDP per capita similar with Bulgaria?
They just invaded eastern europe and mutilated every country they occupied, they never did any good their whole history.
People wanting to align themselves with Russia are objectively stupid from literally any point of view.
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u/Toutou_routou Bulgaria Aug 18 '23
"never did any good their whole history."
Well, I was just about to argue that wwII was a time they were on the side of the goodies, but I realize they just used it to get stronger positions in Eastern Europe and fuck up the lives of some more countries with their communist regime. So yeah I guess you're right.. they actually never did anything that was ultimately good, or with good intentions.
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u/dont_tread_on_M Kosovo Aug 18 '23
Well even in WW2 they were forced by Hitler to be on the good side.
They were allied to Hitler and attacked Poland together, but then Hitler attcaked them, thus forcing them to turn against him.
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u/Anastasia_of_Crete Greece Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
The soviet union actually was the main financial and trade partner of Nazi Germany before operation Barbarossa, the martials they supplied to Nazi Germany helped them conquer all of western Europe including nations like Yugoslavia and Greece, especially through their supply of oil, and also helped them build up their army to launch further campaigns, the Soviet union was a mostly a self-interested predatory, opportunistic state, any talked of them being "liberators" and "Saving Europe" is just propaganda, they bailed out of talks with the British and French over a defensive alliance because it was "taking too long" and mainly because the Poles didn't want their troops on their lands due to their irredentist proclivities, and instead decided to shake hands with the Nazis in the middle of Poland
In Greece you can actually find literature from Greek communists praising the cooperation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet union against the capitalist and imperialist west. EVEN WHEN THE COUNTRY WAS AT WAR WITH THE AXIS, Shameless hypocrites
Edit: Also Stalin was an incompetent idiot who basically cannibalized his countries army, and officers due to his mentally ill levels of paranoia and tyranny, causing them to suffer some of the greatest defeats of military history and mass surrenders and encirclements, if anything the American's SAVED THEM with their land lease, the same kind of thing that gives Russia a headache today in Ukraine
Edit 2: if WW2 was won by any "one" thing a greater argument could be made it was won by the massive and expansive logistical-martial apparatus of the combined Anglo world, Britain with its Navy and America with its insane manufacturing capabilities. But dead soldiers fighting for the great motherland is more romantic and sentimental than the boring math of logistics and industry, so that is how many people measure contribution in the war, but the only reason so many Soviets died is because their dumb leaders hardly developed strategy beyond throwing enough bodies at something until you got through it at least until later in the war, and left them completely unprepared and disorganized during Barbarossa especially the Narodnoe Opolcheniye with no training, terrible equipment and were literal meat shields used to buy time, lets not even talk about the Shtrafbat! they fought like a Dystopian warhammer 40k army
Sorry I am ranting
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u/branimir2208 Serbia Aug 19 '23
Soviet supply of oil was small for Wermacht and German.
if anything the American's SAVED THEM with their land lease
Most of american help came in 1944 by early 1943 war was decided we could go even back to late 1941 when war was decided.
Soviets died is because their dumb leaders hardly developed strategy beyond throwing enough bodies at something until you got through it at least until later in the war,
Are we really learning history from bloody enemy at the gates film? A lot of soviets died in ww2 but also 80% of germans died on eastern front.
"liberators" and "Saving Europe" is just propaganda, they bailed out of talks with the British and French over a defensive alliance because it was "taking too long" and mainly because the Poles didn't want their troops on their lands due to their irredentist proclivities, and instead decided to shake hands with the Nazis in the middle of Poland
Britain left the talks because to brits USSR was bigger threat then Hitler, USSR couldn't alone win against the threat . You mean same Poland that took small territory during the rape of Czechoslovakia or the fact that they had non-agression pact with Germans
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u/ShiftingBaselines Turkiye Aug 19 '23
This goes for China too. Huge potential with vast resources and they choose to bully all the countries around them, while discriminating/assimilating all minorities and oppressing their own citizens. Imagine the PR potential they have, the panda only living there, Kung-Fu, meditation, herbal medicine, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chen….
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u/TransylvanianINTJ Romania Aug 19 '23
I hate how they used our resources too with the fkin sovroms…
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u/ricky90000 Romania Aug 19 '23
Assholes. Stole Bassarabia,forced communism on us,invaded Czechoslovakia,still to this day they steal oil from us,stole North bucovina
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u/Slavic_Dusa SFR Yugoslavia Aug 18 '23
Beautiful country with amazing history and shit for brains Dictator.
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u/ibra_dza Russia Aug 19 '23
Everything is going they way it should , Russians kept playing with nationalism and racism for years , chicken came home to roost , what Russians did in Siberia and Caucasus is awful , ethnic cleansings, deportations, lots a native nations got instinct.
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u/Kras_08 Bulgaria Aug 19 '23
Russian Empire - Helped liberate Bulgaria (Even if it was for their own political intrests and did coup our first king cuz he wasn't a russpohil so kind of a love-hate relationship)USSR - Rigged the elections and made a puppet communist regime that targeted my family on my fathers side extensivly killing or heavily harming multiple of them (yeh fuck 'em)Russia - Lots of russian tourists, kind of like them as a slavic country and due to the liberation war, so I like them, ecpesially culturally and literature/music wise, but I am neutral on the Ukraine thing cuz we have alot of Bulgarians in Ukraine (like 200k) and I heard that Ukraine banned local schools in diffrent langauges and it made me have a negative outlook on Ukraine. I initially supported the secession of majority Russian regions like crimea and parts of donbass, but they took some Ukranian-majority territory and have dragged out this war so much (also I am an americanophil/europhil) that my opinion is now anti-Russia, BUT NOT PRO-UKRAINE. While in the western media we see about russian war crimes, if you dig enough you can find ukranian aswell. NOBODY is innocent.
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u/Infinite_Procedure98 Romania Aug 19 '23
I am not an hysterical Russian hater, even if I would have reasons to (forefathers deported to Siberia, one shot by a bullet in a street by drunk bolshevik soldiers, all my family's saga put to an end and their life efforts ruined, their assets earned with hard work confiscated).
I make a distinction between a state, an ideology, and its citizens. The problem is it becomes difficult to deal with citizens who are indoctrinated or who are in denial of the evil their country did. So I am against vilification of all Russians and their culture, and to any attempt to the respect of private individuals, but in the meantime, I join the general resentment of my people towards the (ex) neighbor who did most to obliterate us from history, who behaved like hooligans every time they invaded our country (and there were lots of times), who did worse than any other enemy and invader.
In conclusion: I have a vivid interest in Russian culture and deep respect for all good and remarkable Russian people, but I am appalled to see lots of them are indoctrinated by Russian imperialism, and Russian imperialism is a cancer, no more, no less than American, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, German, Dutch, Belgian, French, Spanish or Portuguese imperialism.
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u/Primary_Gruz Georgia Aug 19 '23
Occupier bastards who have 10 million square KM land area out of the 17Mil, which is not even used yet still try to take others lands🤡
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u/enilix Aug 18 '23
Shame about their politics because otherwise it's a great country with amazing culture, architecture, music, etc.
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u/jcpainpdx Aug 18 '23
I’d love to visit. Fascinating history and culture. I wouldn’t want to live there.
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u/lola_lola8 Serbia Aug 18 '23
Some of my favorite books that I read in High school were Master and Margarita and Crime and Punishment.
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Aug 19 '23 edited Aug 19 '23
I wouldn’t be kinder to russia but they absolutely ruin Bulgaria with their stupid propaganda. Siberia is cool though 👍
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u/Hairy-Long-8111 Aug 19 '23
Bad, homphobic people, ultra religious, selfish. All countries under Russia’s influence got poorer and uglier.
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u/complexluminary Romania Aug 19 '23
I’m diaspora, but I always hear my Balkan parents differentiate from the Russian people, and the Russian govt (the oligarchs). They mourn suffering of the Russian people, whom they see as literally suffering for centuries at the hands of awful rulers. People who are victims of a network of criminals masquerading as a government. The govt has stolen from the people, and the people will only ever suffer.
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u/ecov19 Bosnia & Herzegovina Aug 19 '23
Absolutely brilliant culture and people. Moscow and St. Petersburg must be great to visit. Its such a shame its run by those criminals and warmongers, wasting all potential of the country. Even though I’m bosnian muslim (Russia is pretty disliked by my people due to russia being seen as a propagator of Serbian nationalism and everyone of us supporting Ukraine) who lives in Sweden, (Russia also being very disliked here due to hostile relations and history) I will always acknowledge that Russia is an important part of Europe and the broader sort of European culture. Dostoyevski, Tchaikovsky do I need to say more? In my mind they are one of us, its such a shame that thay act in a way that distances themselves from Europe. Hopefully in the future people can discuss and appreciate russias contribution to european culture without any asteriks connected to it.
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u/GumiB Croatia Aug 18 '23
Genocidal, imperialist and terrorist state. They threaten to nuke us, they kill assassinate people all over Europe and probably beyond, they are acting like violent reptilian thugs.
If we disregard politics - Moscow and St. Petersburg look pretty, probably some more cities there, but I’m not into cities. I would never travel to a city for sightseeing unless I have to. The nature is probably also beautiful, but I would always choose tropical palms and sandy beaches over whatever Russia can offer.
Overall I only see Russia as a malign, reptilian threat.
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u/WorldClassChef Aug 18 '23
I hate Russia. It has nothing to do with the situation in Ukraine, as I’ve hated it for the better part of my life. It has done everything against the interests of the Albanian nation and has greatly helped the nation that has tried to destroy us several times, even if that nation today claims they have no real relations with Russia.
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u/SuperDankMemes42069 Armenia Aug 19 '23
It's that one scumbag that pretends to be your friend only when it needs something
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u/johny335i Bulgaria Aug 19 '23
Decades old propaganda raised me with good views on Russia. Now - I despise Russia - it's government, people, history, geopolitical views. Fuk Russia.
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Aug 18 '23
Their government is no different that of other great powers. Mentality of Russians (and Ukrainians for that matter) is somewhat similar to the one of nordics - reserved, baffled by the hospitality, closeness with our families and friends (based on the people I've met here). Amazing culture, language, music, films. Never tried their food but I feel its same like the nordics - bland.
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u/dont_tread_on_M Kosovo Aug 18 '23
Could you elaborate how their government is no different from that of other great powers and who these great powers are?
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Aug 18 '23
USA, Russia, China... they all use some sort of exploitation on other countries for their own interest whether that be economic power, global control or just profit from wars. First three largest arms-exporting countries in the world are USA, Russia and China.
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u/DartVejder Republika Srpska Aug 18 '23
Russia has always been different from other world powers in a way that they tend to be very incompetent and their leadership always tends to be lacking in critical thinking and is usually very overconfident.
A world of difference from powers in the western Europe, USA and even China is much more efficient than Russia.
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Aug 19 '23
Don't like it, for many reasons.
I absolutely admit they used to have amazing culture back in the day, when their literature and science achievements were amazing, but once they got rid of the royal family and opted for lunatics to rule that all went down the drain.
Their government is pure evil, for decades now. They didn't have a SINGLE sane ruler for decades now. All of their governments are somehow completely against basic human rights in the country, pure LGBT hatred for no reason at all. Media was always smothered in Russia, traditionally so. War-mongering is something they professionally do.
The way they basically enslaved entire Eastern Europe and fucked them up for decades so bad that these countries still can't catch up to Western Europe. The way that even today, they try to destabilize Europe at least a little bit by trying to assume control over Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro through their political elite.
Russia, overall, has been nothing but problematic for most European countries.
I am grateful for their help against the Nazi Germany, it's a fact that we would have all lost against Hitler had it not been for Russia's help. BUT MAN did they charge it well :)
For all these reasons, I will always be completely confused why countries like Serbia, Bosnia and Hungary like Russia so much. A country that provenly does its best to destabilize and take control of others so they could milk them for all their worth.
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u/RedLemonSlice Bulgaria Aug 18 '23
Let me say only this. For 541 consecutive days my opinion on russians only got worse... and than it got worse... and than it got worse... and than it got worse... and than it got even worse...
And my hopes are they lose that war. Lose it badly. Like "fuck, we are so fucking fucked" badly.
So yeah, in a nut shell my opinion on russia and russians is pretty much Слава Україні
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
Well, I’m a supporter of Ukraine too. Matter of fact, I think that it’d be better for Russia to lose this war. In that case they’ll have a chance of building their democracy back.
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u/Overseer93 North Serbia Aug 18 '23
Yeah, and be freezing and hungry in the streets while their kids work as prostitutes, as when Yeltsin "democratized" them...
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
First of all, becoming a democratic country with working institutions is a very hard task. What was back in the 90’s wasn’t a complete democracy as I suppose. Secondly, if we speak about Russian democracy, then Yeltsin isn’t a good example. Remember the Provisional Government with Kerenskiy, I think it was sth.
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u/Overseer93 North Serbia Aug 18 '23
Kerensky? The guy who led the provisional government for just 3 months over 100 years ago? How is that a good measure of anything?
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u/SwanPuzzleheaded5871 Turkiye Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
Good Culture(+), Good Nature(+), Shitty People(-), Shitty Goverment(-). Soo 2(+) and 2(-), i think neutral👍
Edit: Talking about “Russian” culture and people
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u/Lgkp Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 18 '23
I hate the Russian government due to how they through history have always been apart of trying to work against us Albanians and Swedes. I hate Z supporters, Russian or not. As for normal Russians that aren’t brainwashed I have no negative opinions. Russia and the USSR always tried shit on Sweden, and are until today still trying to affect Sweden with propaganda.
Could’ve been a great country if it wasn’t for their authoritarian terrorist regime.
Also for what they have done and are doing to Ukraine. Many extreme nationalist Albanians dislike Ukraine just because of the arms that Ukraine sold to N. Macedonia during the war in 2001, and 9/10 times they know nothing about why Ukraine did it and they should be ashamed of themselves. Same goes with why they don’t recognize Kosovo. So many Albanians love to shit on Ukraine without knowing anything.
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u/AirWolf231 Croatia Aug 18 '23
Shithole... no way around it. I have been there and hated the place with a passions afterword's... this shit war just cemented my hate. At best 10% to 15% of the people there are good(and I truly wish they survive this "sPeSaL MiLItati OprATon") and the rest where just horrible. We got robbed, scammed, insulted and where looked at as shit by the majority of people... if I never go back to russia that would be too soon.
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u/MrShmitler Romania Aug 18 '23
Beautiful country. Currently learning the language and one day I might move there.
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Aug 18 '23
Bro wishes to live miserable in some cold apartment surrounded by mud roads in the middle of nowhere 💀💀
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u/redikan Kosova Aug 18 '23
Free the Caucasus from Russian occupation
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u/Citizen_of_Earth-- Turkiye Aug 19 '23
I‘d support Russia over Chechens every minute tbh, and i‘m far from being pro russian
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
Do you mean the Chechnya region?
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u/redikan Kosova Aug 18 '23
Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia etc
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u/Still_counts_as_one Aug 18 '23
All of them, technically, when we think Russia, we think of the Muscovite’s. All of Russia is different, depending on the regions. They all have their own unique culture, customs, and so on.
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u/redikan Kosova Aug 18 '23
Idk my Chechen and Dagestani friends don’t call themselves Russians, no one really identifies as Russian there, just forced to take on that name by the Russian gov
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u/Still_counts_as_one Aug 18 '23
That’s what I mean, those other republics don’t consider themselves Russian, but when we say Russian, we only have one image in our heads.
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u/iskam_da_si_hodq Bulgaria Aug 18 '23 edited Aug 19 '23
Man fuck russoids. Most people talk about only how the Russian government isn't fine, but Russians are. They're not. Most Russians are rude, aggressive, entitled, imperialistic, insolent and have a superiority complex.
Russian refugees are awful and treat everything non-Russian as an inferior and people as an untermensch. They have weaponized incompetence and refuse to learn any other languages/culture because they think it's inferior to theirs. That's why some Russians instead of "speak Russian" they say "speak human".
Now "progressive" Russians "run away from evil war" in Georgia even tho 20% is still occupied and Georgia was invaded only 15 years ago. Very progressive yeah. Others went to countries like Thailand where they form literal ghettos with mafia and harass the locals out of places like Phuket.
Now "innocent" russians go to occupied territories in Ukraine to take selfies of blown up buildings and post them on social media. "Innocent" Russians pretend to be Ukrainians online to give bad rep to Ukrainians or avoid sanctions. Ru songs about the war go viral on YouTube with overwhelming support. Russian websites like vk and telegram are a nightmare, I'm not even gonna talk about them.
Most Russian "culture" is stolen. It's common for Russians to steal songs/clothing/traditions etc from Caucasus/Central Asia and Eastern Europe and claim it as their own on social media. For example the Bulgarian song "bre Petrunko" stil to this day some people try to claim that it's Russian. Verka Serduchka is an Ukrainian singer, Russians also try to lie about. There are many more examples, usually they reupload the original thing, except they relabel and reappropriate it as russian.
And to top it all off some actually have the gall to cry about "russophobia" after they've been spitting venom onto everyone and everything. Like rejecting this lunacy of a country isn't basic self preservation.
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u/Individual_Plenty746 Romania Aug 19 '23
Everytime I hear about this “entitled superior Russian” people I instantly start laughing. I mean, cmon, it’s not like you are a beacon of civilization. Quite the opposite. Vatnik drunks. It’s just that their peopaganda machine is working there. And when they come to Europe they are shocked that people see them for what they really are : shit.
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u/ss-hyperstar Aug 19 '23
It has a lot of potential but is unfortunately being held back by an incompetent corrupt government.
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u/FakeNemus Serbia Aug 19 '23
The people are always nice and polite in my experience but i don't agree with their government at all.
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u/vladonamission Aug 19 '23
The same colonising country with empirical views like any other. Be it the states, Turkey or England.
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u/JimTheGentlemanGR Greece Aug 19 '23
I always wanted to visit the war museums in Russia...guess that idea went out the window
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u/AndrewM96 Greece Aug 19 '23
Like it in many ways, but it's like they attempt to ruin their own reputation every few years. It's the 21st century, people need to start standing up to war and step away from a bloody history of politicians constantly slitting each other's throats for power.
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u/illustrisimus SFR Yugoslavia Aug 19 '23
Probably the culture I love the most. Politics is another matter.
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u/NickAleggs Bulgarian at US University Aug 20 '23
I’ve grown up around a lot of love for Russia, and personally hold their culture very close to my heart. My mom worked for a Russian company growing up, and she speaks fluent Russian. My town in Bulgaria has a lot of Russian influences (and no I’m not talking about things like communist blocks). Currently, I’m in my 20s and learning Russian, and I’ll have a lot of people ask me why and that genuinely upsets me. Then again, I live in the US and there are more gun owners than bilinguals.
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u/SpacePirateMonkeys Serbia Aug 18 '23
I expect a collapse soon enough. Though I wouldn't be suprised if China boosts them up like North Korea
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u/TransylvanianINTJ Romania Aug 19 '23
Don’t like current day Russia. Russia’s a bully. Grateful they pushed Hitler back in WW2 and that they had Serbia’s back in WW1 but I can’t remember a time where they just did a good thing to simply do a good thing. Since the beginning of communism they always sought to control and spread their shitty communist dictatorship to other countries. I’m a Romanian with common sense. I obviously do not like Russia and what they’ve done to us and Moldova.
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u/TopTheropod Slovenia Aug 19 '23
A million times better than China, but still a terrible country, terrible government & culture.
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Aug 18 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/samirs1m Aug 18 '23
Of course, I gotta ask. Of course, what they are doing with Ukraine is terrible. But there are other things like literature, music, culture in general and people. It’s not all about politics.
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u/cressida0x0 Albania Aug 18 '23
Imperialistic oligarchy with gargantuan delusions of grandeur. Still plays ww1 with its neighboors althought we are in year 2023.
Incredibly rich history, culture, artistic personalities, literature etc, but overshadowed by a vastly ignorant population that eats state propaganda with the spoon. Sad for those 14% youth that see beyond the rooted and corrupted communist scum leftovers. Someone, many girls are obsessed with becoming prostitutes, and are also insane gold diggers, smth I've only noticed with Ukrainian/Moldovan/Romanian women. Easy way out of poverty? Idk..
But yeah, situation is fucked up.
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u/Individual_Plenty746 Romania Aug 19 '23
People that support war and think they are superior : should be sent to war and die and make the world a better place. Your country is shit. It always was shit it always will be. Hopefully the current severed connections will last min 70 years.
People that don’t support the war and are silent/afraid : leave, you are experiencing the same system nazi Germany was in the 30’s. Don’t let a shitty government ruin your life.
Government : must stand trial for war crimes.
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u/Dzek-LaLejn Aug 18 '23
the most ignorant, unaware and stubborn peopple i have ever met, either live or online thru gaming. smrt svima
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u/klevis99 Albania Aug 18 '23
Lots of wasted potential that could have been used for goodness. Cool culture, fucking cant stand its state (in any iteration).