No, I just highlight that the research you provided doesn’t say what you want it to say. And I can’t really find many articles that confirm your notion.

You can call the country your home if you constantly live and/or were born there. Quite straightforward to me. Now, it would certainly be handy to learn the language and familiarize with the culture - which many Latvian Russians do - and it’s a correct turn to make Latvian courses mandatory - but suppressing Russian culture is a step too far, and something that should never be applied to anyone. Luckily, I’m not the only one thinking this way.

I do speak Ukrainian (мова, anyone?), although I must admit that since I’ve spent more time living here in Russia and not everyone even in Ukraine spoke Ukrainian, I do speak Russian better. But same is true for most Eastern Ukrainians anyway.

I don’t white-wash anything, I’m only saying hostility is not a viable option. You, along many others, try to push all blame on everyday Russians - and there could be a grain of truth to that, more could be done a decade ago to make sure this never happens - but what do you want now? What is the proposed course of action, exactly?

When those questions come up, I don’t know the answers. And I desperately wish to have one. One thing I do know is that getting hostile to Russians makes them hostile to you, which gradually shifts the idea of hostile Russians into a self-fulfilling prophecy, boosting Putin’s support. If you didn’t see it, one of the main patriotic tropes of Russia is that the world is full of enemies that hate Russians. Don’t make this true; people do not reason when they are despised, and they will not come to the conclusion that this is meant to stimulate them to do something. By trying to make Russians feel “consequences of their actions”, you really just feed directly into Putin’s propaganda machine and make Russians actually hate you.

No, that wasn’t me, and media can be accessed - at least via VPNs. Not gonna argue on that - and I still insist the support is not as broad as you imagine it to be, although sometimes it looks like some folks do everything in their power to make it true. Also, collective punishment over those in particular who support the war is never a good option at any ratio. This, by the way, has further alienated some of the opposition.

As I said, I do not have strong opinions on Russo-Ukrainian border. If Ukraine retakes Crimea and Donbass, then be it. If Russia captures them, okay. You think the reason I’m talking this is because I take the side of Russia, but I don’t take either side. If Ukraine ends up including Kursk (which was Russian pre-war), and Russia ends up including Luhansk (which was Ukrainian pre-war), and the peace is then brokered, whatever! I have zero loyalty to either country, and see the concept of a country to be imposed and alien, introducing conflicts over nothing that actually matters. I am, however, loyal to people, all people, and naturally sensitive to the struggles of those living on both sides of this very border. And on one side there are people not only suffering from rocket strikes, but also chased and beaten and pushed to go to their death (aka бусифікація), and on the other the country is turning into a war machine, feeding its young men into the grinder as well (aka могилизация). Stop that first, it’s an obvious priority task, isn’t it?

Now, does this approach of hostility make it any closer? If anything, it makes peace further away, it drives people further away. And it’s a big deal.

Maybe being nice to Russians didn’t help them stop Putin. But being hostile to Russians plays straight into Putin’s deck. It looks, however, like retribution for you is the goal in itself, not a measure to actually help anyone, on any side of the frontline.

With that said, I don’t think this is the kind of conversation worth having.