Russians — even the most liberal-minded of them, who oppose Putin’s regime — think that Russia is a great country, with great and deep culture, which is superior to others.

They are proud of Russia, the largest country on Earth.

At the same time, all Russians complain of corrupt officials, bribery, nepotism, lawlessness, inefficiency. But Russia is still great, regardless!

• Those who support Putin, believe that Putin is taking Russia in the right direction and will be able to make it even better.
• Those who are against Putin, believe that another leader (the one they like) will take Russia in the right direction and will be able to make it better.

Very rarely Russians see a problem with their country being an empire that forcibly conquered other nations and took over their lands, Russified them and imposed the superiority of the Russian language and culture over them. They don’t even recognize this fact.

The more “enlightened” Russians consider themselves cosmopolitan and don’t realize that their imperial chauvinism is deeply rooted, affecting their world views.

In a way, Russians suffer from both inferiority and superiority complex at the same time.

They believe that each of them is a victim of circumstances and cannot change anything in the country, and at the same time that Russia is superior to other countries and the Russian culture is superior and more valuable than others – especially cultures of other nations that live in Russia or ex-USSR republics, and this is why Russia has the right to dictate other nations how to live their lives.

Meanwhile, only 35 millions of Russians out of 140 million live in large cities, in conditions where at least the city centre looks like it’s the 21 century.

The rest of Russia looks like it looked in 1985, when Gorbachev was elected as the USSR leader – only worse for wear.

This is the city of Murmansk, population 260,000 people. It’s a centre of a region.

I simply looked on Google Maps what the streets look like. Very impressive.

Half of Russia lives like this or worse. Half of Russia lives in newer apartment buildings. Very few own a modern single-family house.

This light blue building has several apartments. It was built in 1956.

People who live there, use an outhouse.

25% of Russians use outhouses, no plumbing in their homes.

It’s from the less fortunate who live in substandard conditions that Putin’s army recruits their soldiers to fight in Ukraine. The poor are tempted by the chance to get out of poverty and buy a nicer apartment, a car. For them, it’s not a moral burden, to destroy other people’s homes and take their lives – just because Ukrainians don’t want to live in the “Great Russia”, but want to live in their own country, Ukraine, – the Russian army contractors only think about their own gains.

This comment about Russians abroad came from a reader:

“I currently live in Dubai and Russians are everywhere. Pushy. Arrogant. When challenged, entirely assured they are living the life whilst we free people are simply food. It’s scary how this attitude pervades the attitude of all these people, regardless of whether they are a hooker, on the run, draft dodging… all are completely convinced they are serving a higher purpose from a higher moral plane. Collective psychosis.”

And those are Russians with money for you – only those with money can afford Dubai. The top 15%.

Russians as a nation are delusional. Their superiority-inferiority complex doesn’t allow them to see their country for what it truly is: The world’s largest mental asylum, which does not have enough qualified psychiatrists to deal with the problem.

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