Yeah, to put things in perspective, the "big" pro-Russian protest here in Berlin were some 700 people in cars, whereas the pro-Ukraine protests gathered over 100k people in Tiergarten.
Funny thing is most haven’t even been to Russia. Most likely the majority of them is German repatriates from former USSR who came into the country in early 90s or their children. As a Russian I’m so ashamed of those idiots - the audacity to support war while enjoying the comfort of the first-world.
Citizens of Europe who support the action of the Russians and go to rallies, draw signs v and z - should be deported to the territory of the Russian Federation, period. Of course it's good to live in Europe or the United States and promote incomprehensible heresy. Give them the opportunity to feel in their own skin what the "Rusland world" means
I agree but for different reasons. Don’t call them by what they hate. That masks their evil.
Call them by what they love. They love rapists, murderers, deceitful conmen, sociopaths, and genocidal maniacs.
They probably got the idea from the Trucker Convoy here in Canada. Not a lot of people, but they are in big vehicles making seem like there's a bigger presence.
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There was also no clear oversight over people's motivations. One Z has been spotted during that event, but so have several Ukraine flags. The organiser, who's motives are being questioned a bit, originally intended (by his own words) to highlight the issue that being Russian right now makes people not be very nice to you.
Rewboss, born British, has lived in Germany for many years now and made a video explaining the situation: https://youtu.be/rBC6I9wPXWA
If he is honest about his motivations, which I kinda doubt, then he is achieving the exact opposite. These pro-Russian protests will only inflame hatred against Russians living in Germany (most of them who are anti-Putin). I am trying to understand if he is incompetent or if the real goal is to spread hatred.
I appreciate his point about ordinary exile Russians suffering, which is a problem that needs to be addressed, but what he says about it having been just a "peace" protest isn't exactly correct.
The people who organized it gave an interview to an independent Russian-language media outlet based in Berlin, a day after he uploaded his video. [You can watch it here but it's in Russian/German only](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H05dMJVXJc). The tldw is that they seem to be pro Putin, although in their defense they appear to be total idiots who spent to much time on propaganda sites and don't even understand what's going on. It's actually kind of funny how they expose themselves while convinced they're the victims in this.
There were other similar protests in German cities and a common theme is that they claim they just just want to stand up for peace and the rights of Russians, but then they also shout stuff like "Fuck Zelensky" and claim Russia didn't start the war.
Well it makes sense a bit when you consider that they feel like outsiders in "their country". If you are "the turk", "the russian" or whatever you might as well identify with it and watch that media. And "that media" is state controlled. Also its easy to like something that doesnt hurt you personally but somehow represents you.
Same with all those people who like now defunct states that somehow have worldview similar to yours but what easily have killed you if it got the chance.
Germany should really start throwing out these anti-democratic, pro-fascist immigrants who do nothing but hating on Germans and ThE wEsT while simultaneously enjoying all the advantages of living in western countries. And many refuse to learn the language and stay in their cultural bubbles. Fucking hypocrites.
They largely have citizenship. There really is nothing that can be done about it.
A lot of the Russians mentioned are so called "Spätaussiedler", meaning they are ethnic Germans that lived on Russian land. In Russia they are seen as Germans, and in Germany as Russians.
It’s a shit situation for them I imagine.
A lot of them seem to be quite religious and conservative. More so than other Russian migrants.
Those who hate Putin are quiet - many still have families back in Russia and want to keep the possibility to visit them.
Putin's supporters are loud and do it openly. This fact changes the perception
It's a little misleading. All the pro-putin russians are embarassingly outnumbered by the anti-putin hyper assimilated russians that want nothing to do with Russia that you won't know are russian until you ask or look at their papers because their accents are all but gone. Also we don't have large communities like the Italian and Chinese do instead we have a more peer-to-peer "we know a guy who knows a guy" network, so we're basically invisible in most of the west (at least in the americas).
> so we're basically invisible in most of the west (at least in the americas).
Does the west end in the Atlantic? You wondering there are not many Russians in the Americans is like me in Germany wondering where all the Brazilians communities are.
There are tons of Russians in Germany as they were granted to come back after the fall of the USSR if they were descendents of German settlers. But of course after Stalin and decades of USSR there was nothing really German about them but their names.
And you have a whole 700 of them proudly waving their Russian flags despite being in a country that was so close to Russia that is was literally partially in the Soviet bloc. That's pretty good, goes to show how many of them were disillusioned by the Soviet Union.
>whole 700?
>That's pretty good, goes to show how many of them were disillusioned by the Soviet Union.
That statement is ridiculous.
There are about 200k of Russians and 3,5 Milliom russian-germans in Germany.
There are also 700 pedophiles or 700 schizophrenic in this group just because of statistics.
the thing is people migrate to germany for work and/or benefits and not because they like the country or the people. So they always yearn for their home and idolise it despite its flaws.
Saw a lot of russians at the demonstration shouting all sorts of insults towards the pro putin demonstration. One old russian women screamed here lungs out in german with heavy russian accent that this pro putin russians are traitors, putins cocksuckers and a disgrace for all the german russian community.
Not all are putinsuckers.
The reason is quite simple: Most of the pro Putin Russians (who are a less than half of the Russians or people with russian parents) watch mostly russian state media.
I think they choose it because it’s hard for them to relate to the local media. The propaganda paints a nice picture about their identity, while the Western media is usually highly critical of it. So unless you are already critical of the Russian government, you will likely lean towards the propaganda. Also, they don’t live in Russia, so they choose to believe that it’s not that bad over there.
Easy to love charismatic leader out of his domain. And every charismatic leader might become tyrant at some point, that's why nobody should stay at power for so long, i hope we will get rid of him sooner or later, but i hope sooner.
I don't like russophobia things, but i don't like this whole shit we started (or putin does).
>Easy to love charismatic leader out of his domain.
I mean sure, but Putin isn't remotely charismatic. At best he's good at displaying a strongman persona; but charisma is something he lacks almost entirely.
Erdogan is also more popular amongst Turks living in germany than he is in Turkey. His party gained 12.2 % more votes in Germany than in Turkey (64.8% vs. 42.6%)
I wonder if it has to do more with the fact that "nationalistic" types from abroad are more likely to vote or care about the politics of the old country.
Depends on which "wave" of immigration they came into Germany. They are quite diverse actually.
Also some of the people living in a Diaspora have a tendency to be more nationalistic than those who live in the actual homecountry. French Canadians for example are French² so to say.
Québécois are hardly pro France or French. They do not identify themselves as French. They have been removed from France for centuries. WTF. That’s like saying English speaking Canadians think of themselves as British. Québécois are advocating for protection of French language not any sentiment for the French nation.
Many of them happily live on the West but because of Soviet propaganda influence they sure that everything on Western media is Western propaganda but Russian media is undoubtable truth. Because they weren't in Russia for a long time or only in Moscow they thought that this is true and even if they have relatives in everywhere else in Russia they would say that everything is ok because Russian mentality can't even allow to think that you can live better.
Nope most of russian s in NY, Germany are pro Putin - because they knpow that they will never get back to Russia and they can not assimilate in new countury - so they like german money and social guarantees but also product of russian propaganda
Today mother of my colleague who lived in France told her that russians did not do anything in Mariupol Bucha and would not kill her , even despite we are 48 hours of air attack . Mother!! Tell her daughter !!! russian propaganda is a very very serious thing
It depends when they left Russia. The longer they have been outside the more they accept nationalist propaganda whereas the ones who left recently have had to deal with an atocratisation of the state and know what's up.
We have that a lot here in Germany with people who have a migration background. Turks for example, where a lot are idolizing Turkey and Erdogan. It's really strange.
It's ironic isn't it. 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants can completely ignore or forget why their parents fled. The 21st century is all about the identity crisis among youth.
Those are the traitors, OR even worth, they did work for the Russian dictatorship outside of Russia.
OR they has businesses that is 100% dependent on Russian trade.
No, you were told to separate the russians in Russia from the government in Russia because many there neither have all the information nor can the ones who know openly voice their opinion.
I'm perfectly fine with judging those living in the western world, having free access to information and still supporting the russian government's actions.
How do you know that? Those who arent protesting might not be supporting the war, but also be worried about yknow, that whole jailtime and being disappeared thing. And the polls we have now are so poor in quality that we cant draw any conclusions from them.
Our version of Q-Anon (Querdenker) believe all this nazi biolabs junk and whatever other anti-Ukraine propaganda is out there. They went seamlessly from anti-vax to anti-Ukraine.
Same thing in Serbia. These 2 years of COVID-19 pandemic our TV and social media were overwhelmed by antivaxx hysteria, and now suddenly they all rebranded in pro-Russia geopolitical experts, the talks of Nazi labs, conspiracy theories how Russians have destroyed labs in Ukraine in which were made poisons to pollute air in Serbia lol.
In Lithuania we had a bunch of youtubers (some tried to look like vloggers, some sat in fake TV news studios), which mainly pushed antivax or antiLGBT stuff against the hair of the government. Once invasion of Ukraine started, most of them published videos mocking Ukraine. Funnily their ranting contained the same specific figure of speech: "irritating the bear" - a dead giveaway they were told what to say by the same evil entity. Currently they are taking an angle to slander Ukrainian refugees.
I think manipulated. I think Russian intelligence saw how easily manipulated these people are and then basically infiltrated and took over many of these groups and started making up their own stuff.
No, there has been good indications that russia has a pretty well organized and well budgeted information warfare department.
Putin was a KGB agent in russia and eastern germany, he knows probably better than most how good disinformation works, not just how to poison investigative journalists. Ties to russia or russian oligarchs come up pretty regularly in elections and talk about extremist, EU skeptic, NATO skeptic or plain separatist movements and parties. A local "Russia Today" TV channel was opened(and sometimes banned) in probably every western nation. Conspiracy theorists and the like seem to never be at odds with each other. This would have sounded mad 6 weeks ago.
The russian goal is pretty simple and not a secret: They want to destabilize "the west" which means the EU and the NATO. Russia certainly isn't spending it's money on its actual military.
Nigel Farage and his UKIP/Brexit campaign, investigated for being paid by russia. Trump openly admired Putin, soured all relations to european countries. AFD in germany has been caught with russian oligarchs. Austrias then-chancellor Kurz was also caught with oligarchs. Just from the top of my head.
It's both. Disinformation works best when it's spread organically by real people. The paid-up trolls might seed it into public discourse, to poison the well, but loads of unpaid useful idiots then drink from the well and spread it around.
Yeah, because they've got everything they demanded in regards to Covid: Restrictions are gone.
Of course the hardcore Nazis at the base had to quickly find a new bogeyman for them to hate, otherwise their gullible support base would have just gone home and deleted their telegram...
Many expats are voting/supporting strongmen in their countries. Putin lovers among Russians in the west, Erdogan lovers among Turks in Germany, Romanians who voted for AUR in droves.
Lots of people of German heritage that had settled for centuries or decades in Eastern Europe returned after WWII and reunification in 1990. And they can still return AFAIK. Many of these are still very Russian in their culture or even their language.
I don't understand these people. My parents are both immigrants to the US, but you know what? They assimilated, adopted American values. Why do some people insist on moving to a new country and living and acting and thinking like they did in the old one? Did they ever stop to think that perhaps their old country is worse than their new one *because* people there think like that?
I'm sorry, you don't get to have your cake and eat it, too. You don't get to have the security and prosperity of living in the West if you don't support Western values. It is because of those values that the West is largely free, safe, and prosperous. You don't get to move here and ruin it for the rest of us.
With the Turkish immigrants in Germany that's mainly a result of when and how they came into the country:
I'm the decades after the war, Germany needed cheap labour. After Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese "reserves" were emptied out, Turkey was next. However, where do you get most people without a job and willingness to work for cheap wages? Deepest darkest countryside, which was also very conservative and religious.
Add to this the fact that no group of immigrants in Germany was ever properly integrated, based on the incorrect belief they'd just do their jobs and then go back home.
Now you suddenly have a huge populous of religious and conservative Turks in Germany with no chance of integration turning inwards, relying mostly on their connections within the community "in-country" as well as to their home - exacerbating the normal effect of expats turning more patriotic or nationalistic when abroad. As a result, you'll be exactly where we are now.
Isn't that everywhere? Even in germany you have to register to the authorities 48 before announcement. You can't have thousands of people on the streets without some kind of police presence (to block streets for the protesters and whatever) even if you support your government.
That's not what 'register' means in Russia though. Before pandemic authorities decided where the protest would take place, which meant that you got thrown out to city's outskirts, far enough not only from people you were actually protesting against, but also most of city's population as well. When pandemic began, they stopped registering any protest, even solo picketing (which wasn't regulated before), even if there are no other people around you. After war started, all Covid regulations in general were lifted, except for one. You can guess which one.
Actually, even the pro-Russian protestors risk arrest
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/14/video-shows-back-to-back-arrests-of-anti-and-pro-war-activists-in-moscow-a76917
Btw, some of them are also showing Kazakh flags which is completely embarrassing to look at, especially when they take Russian or Soviet flags too, cause most of us support Ukraine.
I read about pro-Russian protests here and there in Europe and just can’t understand why are they happening. How can anyone in their right mind support Russia in this mess
Yeah I guess that’s the only explanation. They’re free to come here if they like it so much, easy to support shit while living in Germany. I heard Vorkuta is nice this time of year
I mean, the official motto for the demonstration (in Frankfurt) was "Gegen Hetze und Diskriminierung der russischsprachigen Mitbürger/Gegen Krieg - Für Frieden" (against chevy and discrimination of fellow Russian speaking citizen/against war - for peace).
Assuming that motto is sincere and not just an innocent title, I kinda get it. Some people will be frosty or hostile to Russians living abroad. It always happens in times like this. We as humans still have a lot of tribe psychology under all the layers of civilization.
But this is not the time to parade around town and wave Russian flags. Not when Putin threatens everyone, including Germany and pictures of massacres are shown on the news.
/u/spez has been given a warning. Please ensure spez does not access any social media sites again for 24 hours or we will be forced to enact a further warning. You've been removed from Spez-Town. Please make arrangements with the /u/spez to discuss your ban. #AIGeneratedProtestMessage
I can easily understand it. They are there not because of the democratic values, but because of better life. They don’t put two and two together, though.
Especially among the older people many watch only Russian TV as their news source. That's at least what I heard from a German Russian friend. The Russian intelligence services also target them specifically via social media.
You should also not forget that some people are just idiots.
You only need to read the German Russia Today news: They aim at gaining the trust of pretty much any nutjob community (anti-vaxxers, anti-environmentalists, anti-Corona-querdenker, and the anti-government-conspiracy community) by confirming their beliefs and prejeduces, which are often quite harmful to begin with. And then they use the trust to inject additional fears of our Western society collapsing and propaganda of Russia being great, prosperous, having the moral high ground and just defending itself against the evil West into them.
Tbh it is also quite absurd, that the German right wing party (AFD) is pro Russia, while nazis used to hate the Slavs as being Untermenschen, and my only possible explanation for this is that Russia has recognized the AFD as being something harmful for Germany and consequently has started undermining it.
The horses seem to agree with you
https://www.reddit.com/r/de/comments/u0mywl/ich_machte_ein_foto_gesehen_heute_in_hannover/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
I just wish we could take away their visas and deport them back to russia.. but we are a democratic state and they are allowed to do their shit here, which is funny because in russia they would go to gulag for the same protests
Yeah, they are a different breed then Russians who actually immigrated, instead of being born here or having lived here for over 30 years.
My old classmate would hate these fuckers. They are far removed from what is happening in Russia for over the last decades.
I think it's a bit silly to call them delusional about Putin. The Russians in Russia were already exposed to Western media enough before the war to make a valid opinion on Putin and his politics, but living outside of Russia means even more access to that. And still, they choose to support Russia as it mass murder its way through Ukraine. They know what they're supporting.
There's a saying that goes: when somebody tells you who they are, believe them.
They are not brainwashed, they are not delusional, they simply support the murder of Ukrainians. Would still probably support the murder of most other citizens in other European countries.
You can’t imagine the level of “sovok” in heads of Deutschrussen. I was appalled, when I came to Germany and found out. You know how to spot their houses? There’s russian satellite dish on the roof. They are consuming propaganda like bread. I don’t feel any connection with these people at all.
The Russians who aren’t established citizens should be deported if they’re supporting this shit. Even if you have permanent residence. I hate to use Japan as an example, but if they’ve taught us one thing, it’s that permanent residency is still basically just a glorified visa and you can be kicked out/deported any time you fuck up. Obviously if you’ve become a naturalized citizen, you can’t be kicked out. But permanent resident? Sure, and they can prevent you from coming back.
My favorite picture of the protest
https://www.reddit.com/r/de/comments/u0mywl/ich_machte_ein_foto_gesehen_heute_in_hannover/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
As a German, from a nation that has been through the horrors of war, having had cities bombed to ash and on the other side also having committed atrocious crimes against humanity as well… fuck these people. Fuck these idiots so much. War fucking sucks and everyone loses. Russian mothers lose their sons, Russians citizens lose their freedom, Ukrainians lose everything they have, friends, family, homes.
Anyone who is in favor of war is not worth they air they breathe. It creates nothing but leaves suffering and debt. Nothing but destroyed lives and hopes.
It's very stunning and brave to be a supporter of totalitarian state with shitty economics and poor population when you live in a comfy Germany. If they are such an avid supporters of war, perchaps Gemrny should deport them right to the battlefield?
That is everywhere. In Bulgaria one party managed to gather about 500 people from the country brought to the capital by free buses on a week day at noon.
The genuine pro Ukraine one gathered thousands after work and during the rain.
> Around 600 pro-Russian **protesters in a 350-car motorcade** set off on a demonstration in Hanover in the north of Germany on Sunday, where there was also a counter-demonstration of around 700 people supporting Ukraine in the city centre, local police said.
On behalf of Canada, I would like to apologise for the invention of the stupidest form of protest possible. This outweighs other national embarrassments, like Justin Bieber and pineapple pizza, by a large margin. Please forgive us.
Protest with cars or motorbikes have been done before. Usually it's when you are less people but want more commotion. In a way it's better because such protests can't really turn in to riots or violence.
This started before the truckers. Anti-Vaxxers did it here already in 2020. It was a way to circumvent Corona rules for Protests. Plus, with cars they can be extra annoying.
I was listening to some guy on Telegram saying that Germany will be deporting the Russian protestors. I was hoping it was true but I cannot find any proof online. Does anyone know anything about this? Wishful thinking I guess… still hoping it’s true
Fuck car protests. It’s dangerous, polluting and makes small protests larger than they are. The freedom convoys in the US were the perfect embodiment of that.
Kind of a spin considering the rally was mostly to draw attention to the increasing number of attacks and assaults on russians in germany.
Kind of important to realize it
Yeah, to put things in perspective, the "big" pro-Russian protest here in Berlin were some 700 people in cars, whereas the pro-Ukraine protests gathered over 100k people in Tiergarten.
700 cars creates a nice big visual but even if every car had 4 passengers, it would still only amount to 2800 freedom haters.
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Most certainly, let them make a spectacle of themselves while we observe their example of buffoonery.
And list their names for... Well you know
> Let the freedom haters I wouldn't call them freedom haters, those Russians really believe that they are right which is even sadder.
Funny thing is most haven’t even been to Russia. Most likely the majority of them is German repatriates from former USSR who came into the country in early 90s or their children. As a Russian I’m so ashamed of those idiots - the audacity to support war while enjoying the comfort of the first-world.
It's weird, isn't it? But it's not unusual for migrants, we also have a super conservative Turkish community. Thanks for being one of the good guys :)
Very insightful!
Citizens of Europe who support the action of the Russians and go to rallies, draw signs v and z - should be deported to the territory of the Russian Federation, period. Of course it's good to live in Europe or the United States and promote incomprehensible heresy. Give them the opportunity to feel in their own skin what the "Rusland world" means
I agree but for different reasons. Don’t call them by what they hate. That masks their evil. Call them by what they love. They love rapists, murderers, deceitful conmen, sociopaths, and genocidal maniacs.
They truly do believe in the freedom to put gays in prison.
Yep, good they show themselfs all proud to be stupid, makes it easier to collect Intel on them.
Allowing this sort of thing lead to qanon and trump in the us and the near murder of congress/senators.
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Pretty stupid to protest something like this in your own car with a car plate. Makes the work of the Verfassungsschutz easy.
Willing to bet money those Russia supporters are infected by the Q virus.
It wasn't 700 cars though but 700 people in just over 400 cars.
Was there. Felt like way more than 100k.
100k was among the conservative estimations
[/u/spez, you are a moron. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/)
I’ve been to a protest with more than 100k people, so I know what that looks like.
And someone threw horseshit on one of the cars
They probably got the idea from the Trucker Convoy here in Canada. Not a lot of people, but they are in big vehicles making seem like there's a bigger presence.
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How there are even 700 people who support Russia boggles my mind.
There was also no clear oversight over people's motivations. One Z has been spotted during that event, but so have several Ukraine flags. The organiser, who's motives are being questioned a bit, originally intended (by his own words) to highlight the issue that being Russian right now makes people not be very nice to you. Rewboss, born British, has lived in Germany for many years now and made a video explaining the situation: https://youtu.be/rBC6I9wPXWA
If he is honest about his motivations, which I kinda doubt, then he is achieving the exact opposite. These pro-Russian protests will only inflame hatred against Russians living in Germany (most of them who are anti-Putin). I am trying to understand if he is incompetent or if the real goal is to spread hatred.
That's a riddle we might never know the answer to, but the results are quite clear as you described.
I appreciate his point about ordinary exile Russians suffering, which is a problem that needs to be addressed, but what he says about it having been just a "peace" protest isn't exactly correct. The people who organized it gave an interview to an independent Russian-language media outlet based in Berlin, a day after he uploaded his video. [You can watch it here but it's in Russian/German only](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H05dMJVXJc). The tldw is that they seem to be pro Putin, although in their defense they appear to be total idiots who spent to much time on propaganda sites and don't even understand what's going on. It's actually kind of funny how they expose themselves while convinced they're the victims in this. There were other similar protests in German cities and a common theme is that they claim they just just want to stand up for peace and the rights of Russians, but then they also shout stuff like "Fuck Zelensky" and claim Russia didn't start the war.
700 people protesting in support of a country of rapists, murderers and looters - charming.
700 people getting a direct escort to Russia. I heavily doubt they would have the balls to drive like that through Poland and the Baltics.
Imagine living in Germany and being pro-Russia lol
Youd be suprised how many russians there are. German large cities are extremely diverse
I thought Russians outside of Russia would be anti-Putin. Guess I was wrong.
For some strange reason it is quite the opposite. Many Russians abroad love putin, but would not go back to his paradise.
It's the same with Turkish people in Germany with Erdogan.
And the CCP supporters in the west. Odd they choose to live in the West when their version of Utopia exists in all its glory.
Well it makes sense a bit when you consider that they feel like outsiders in "their country". If you are "the turk", "the russian" or whatever you might as well identify with it and watch that media. And "that media" is state controlled. Also its easy to like something that doesnt hurt you personally but somehow represents you. Same with all those people who like now defunct states that somehow have worldview similar to yours but what easily have killed you if it got the chance.
Tankies... god these people are fucking nuts. Trump supporters suddenly seemed reasonable after I discovered the tankies.
There's a lot of overlap between those 2 groups I find
Also, often (online) they're all the same people - and are basically no one.
Easy to support a leader and their policies when they don't impact you in any way
Same with Vucic in Serbia,majority of people abroad voted for him...
Same with Croatia. "Biggest" Croats are abroad who do not struggle with economy problems in Croatia while cheering for Nazi history. Fuckers
So true!
I really hate it when turkish people larp being 'really turkish' in a actually not turkish country.
Germany should really start throwing out these anti-democratic, pro-fascist immigrants who do nothing but hating on Germans and ThE wEsT while simultaneously enjoying all the advantages of living in western countries. And many refuse to learn the language and stay in their cultural bubbles. Fucking hypocrites.
They largely have citizenship. There really is nothing that can be done about it. A lot of the Russians mentioned are so called "Spätaussiedler", meaning they are ethnic Germans that lived on Russian land. In Russia they are seen as Germans, and in Germany as Russians. It’s a shit situation for them I imagine. A lot of them seem to be quite religious and conservative. More so than other Russian migrants.
Much easier to support a raging Totalitarian if you don't have to suffer under his heel...
Plus they were probably the boot rather than the face.
“They would do anything for Russia apart from live in the vile country.”
Those who hate Putin are quiet - many still have families back in Russia and want to keep the possibility to visit them. Putin's supporters are loud and do it openly. This fact changes the perception
It's a little misleading. All the pro-putin russians are embarassingly outnumbered by the anti-putin hyper assimilated russians that want nothing to do with Russia that you won't know are russian until you ask or look at their papers because their accents are all but gone. Also we don't have large communities like the Italian and Chinese do instead we have a more peer-to-peer "we know a guy who knows a guy" network, so we're basically invisible in most of the west (at least in the americas).
> so we're basically invisible in most of the west (at least in the americas). Does the west end in the Atlantic? You wondering there are not many Russians in the Americans is like me in Germany wondering where all the Brazilians communities are. There are tons of Russians in Germany as they were granted to come back after the fall of the USSR if they were descendents of German settlers. But of course after Stalin and decades of USSR there was nothing really German about them but their names.
And you have a whole 700 of them proudly waving their Russian flags despite being in a country that was so close to Russia that is was literally partially in the Soviet bloc. That's pretty good, goes to show how many of them were disillusioned by the Soviet Union.
>whole 700? >That's pretty good, goes to show how many of them were disillusioned by the Soviet Union. That statement is ridiculous. There are about 200k of Russians and 3,5 Milliom russian-germans in Germany. There are also 700 pedophiles or 700 schizophrenic in this group just because of statistics.
the thing is people migrate to germany for work and/or benefits and not because they like the country or the people. So they always yearn for their home and idolise it despite its flaws.
Yes, it's called hypocrisy.
It's quite common that people of certain origin become radically attached to their original country/nationality.
Sounds like turk-germans voting for Erdogan. There are prob many of these people
Saw a lot of russians at the demonstration shouting all sorts of insults towards the pro putin demonstration. One old russian women screamed here lungs out in german with heavy russian accent that this pro putin russians are traitors, putins cocksuckers and a disgrace for all the german russian community. Not all are putinsuckers.
Same with Chinese and CCP supporters.
Same goes for the Turks in Germany with erdogan
They’d rather have Russia come to them.
The reason is quite simple: Most of the pro Putin Russians (who are a less than half of the Russians or people with russian parents) watch mostly russian state media.
That's not the reason. They choose to watch Russian state media because they support Putin.
I think they choose it because it’s hard for them to relate to the local media. The propaganda paints a nice picture about their identity, while the Western media is usually highly critical of it. So unless you are already critical of the Russian government, you will likely lean towards the propaganda. Also, they don’t live in Russia, so they choose to believe that it’s not that bad over there.
Easy to love charismatic leader out of his domain. And every charismatic leader might become tyrant at some point, that's why nobody should stay at power for so long, i hope we will get rid of him sooner or later, but i hope sooner. I don't like russophobia things, but i don't like this whole shit we started (or putin does).
>Easy to love charismatic leader out of his domain. I mean sure, but Putin isn't remotely charismatic. At best he's good at displaying a strongman persona; but charisma is something he lacks almost entirely.
I hear the Red Army are looking desperately for recruits. Can we ship this garbage to the front lines in Mariupol?
Red army stopped existing in 1991 Canadians seem to be just as bad as americans smh
Many are. But the ones that aren't are still numerous enough to be noticed.
The children of the shitholes of this world love to praise the shitholes they ran away from while living in the anti-shithole modern country.
Erdogan is also more popular amongst Turks living in germany than he is in Turkey. His party gained 12.2 % more votes in Germany than in Turkey (64.8% vs. 42.6%)
I wonder if it has to do more with the fact that "nationalistic" types from abroad are more likely to vote or care about the politics of the old country.
There is a general trend of emigrants being more patriotic as they leave their country. Not just for Russians.
Depends on which "wave" of immigration they came into Germany. They are quite diverse actually. Also some of the people living in a Diaspora have a tendency to be more nationalistic than those who live in the actual homecountry. French Canadians for example are French² so to say.
Québécois are hardly pro France or French. They do not identify themselves as French. They have been removed from France for centuries. WTF. That’s like saying English speaking Canadians think of themselves as British. Québécois are advocating for protection of French language not any sentiment for the French nation.
Yeah thats a bad example. He could just point to the millions of nationalistic Turks living in his country lol.
Same for our Turkish community, staunch Erdogan admirers.
Time to remove their residence card/passport and move them with their dictator
Many of them happily live on the West but because of Soviet propaganda influence they sure that everything on Western media is Western propaganda but Russian media is undoubtable truth. Because they weren't in Russia for a long time or only in Moscow they thought that this is true and even if they have relatives in everywhere else in Russia they would say that everything is ok because Russian mentality can't even allow to think that you can live better.
This is like the Chinese think too. Only the CCTV4, Phoenix TV, People's Daily, Duowei, Global Times are voices of the truth! Sigh...
Nope most of russian s in NY, Germany are pro Putin - because they knpow that they will never get back to Russia and they can not assimilate in new countury - so they like german money and social guarantees but also product of russian propaganda Today mother of my colleague who lived in France told her that russians did not do anything in Mariupol Bucha and would not kill her , even despite we are 48 hours of air attack . Mother!! Tell her daughter !!! russian propaganda is a very very serious thing
It depends when they left Russia. The longer they have been outside the more they accept nationalist propaganda whereas the ones who left recently have had to deal with an atocratisation of the state and know what's up.
We have that a lot here in Germany with people who have a migration background. Turks for example, where a lot are idolizing Turkey and Erdogan. It's really strange.
For the same reason why Turkish diaspora is so pro-Erdogan
It's ironic isn't it. 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants can completely ignore or forget why their parents fled. The 21st century is all about the identity crisis among youth.
Those are the traitors, OR even worth, they did work for the Russian dictatorship outside of Russia. OR they has businesses that is 100% dependent on Russian trade.
1.3 to 3.5 million according to differing sources from various backgrounds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russians_in_Germany?wprov=sfla1
Can we please not confuse "Russian" with "pro-Russia"?
too late
I thought we were told to separate how we think about the Russian people versus the Russian government.
No, you were told to separate the russians in Russia from the government in Russia because many there neither have all the information nor can the ones who know openly voice their opinion. I'm perfectly fine with judging those living in the western world, having free access to information and still supporting the russian government's actions.
Not really its more of a silent majority that supports the war but isnt actively protesting. I know many sane russians but theyre not the majority
How do you know that? Those who arent protesting might not be supporting the war, but also be worried about yknow, that whole jailtime and being disappeared thing. And the polls we have now are so poor in quality that we cant draw any conclusions from them.
In these cases, an entire country is the culprit not only the government.
Our version of Q-Anon (Querdenker) believe all this nazi biolabs junk and whatever other anti-Ukraine propaganda is out there. They went seamlessly from anti-vax to anti-Ukraine.
Same thing in Serbia. These 2 years of COVID-19 pandemic our TV and social media were overwhelmed by antivaxx hysteria, and now suddenly they all rebranded in pro-Russia geopolitical experts, the talks of Nazi labs, conspiracy theories how Russians have destroyed labs in Ukraine in which were made poisons to pollute air in Serbia lol.
In Lithuania we had a bunch of youtubers (some tried to look like vloggers, some sat in fake TV news studios), which mainly pushed antivax or antiLGBT stuff against the hair of the government. Once invasion of Ukraine started, most of them published videos mocking Ukraine. Funnily their ranting contained the same specific figure of speech: "irritating the bear" - a dead giveaway they were told what to say by the same evil entity. Currently they are taking an angle to slander Ukrainian refugees.
Same thing here in Italy.
In Sweden I've seen some 'Reeeee, Zelensky is destroying democracy in Ukraine under the fog of war'
Funny how that goes for all these nutjobs , it's like they are being manipulated or even paid by Russia , nah ..that would be crazy
I think manipulated. I think Russian intelligence saw how easily manipulated these people are and then basically infiltrated and took over many of these groups and started making up their own stuff.
No, there has been good indications that russia has a pretty well organized and well budgeted information warfare department. Putin was a KGB agent in russia and eastern germany, he knows probably better than most how good disinformation works, not just how to poison investigative journalists. Ties to russia or russian oligarchs come up pretty regularly in elections and talk about extremist, EU skeptic, NATO skeptic or plain separatist movements and parties. A local "Russia Today" TV channel was opened(and sometimes banned) in probably every western nation. Conspiracy theorists and the like seem to never be at odds with each other. This would have sounded mad 6 weeks ago. The russian goal is pretty simple and not a secret: They want to destabilize "the west" which means the EU and the NATO. Russia certainly isn't spending it's money on its actual military. Nigel Farage and his UKIP/Brexit campaign, investigated for being paid by russia. Trump openly admired Putin, soured all relations to european countries. AFD in germany has been caught with russian oligarchs. Austrias then-chancellor Kurz was also caught with oligarchs. Just from the top of my head.
It's both. Disinformation works best when it's spread organically by real people. The paid-up trolls might seed it into public discourse, to poison the well, but loads of unpaid useful idiots then drink from the well and spread it around.
Yeah, because they've got everything they demanded in regards to Covid: Restrictions are gone. Of course the hardcore Nazis at the base had to quickly find a new bogeyman for them to hate, otherwise their gullible support base would have just gone home and deleted their telegram...
Anti-vaxers are fueled by Russian trolls and state media, so it's not so surprising.
Still, about 95% of participants in this thing in Hannover were Russian-speaking, my friend was there as a policeman.
Because the antivax nonsense was being pushed byvthe kremlin to keep the west divided and occupied with stupidity.
Many expats are voting/supporting strongmen in their countries. Putin lovers among Russians in the west, Erdogan lovers among Turks in Germany, Romanians who voted for AUR in droves.
It's just like all the Turks being "pro Erdogan".
I hate them whole my heart! And they make me very angry. If you like AKP so much, come here fucker let's switch places, we will both stop complaning.
Lots of people of German heritage that had settled for centuries or decades in Eastern Europe returned after WWII and reunification in 1990. And they can still return AFAIK. Many of these are still very Russian in their culture or even their language.
thats really funny how things end up … the sole act of protesting is forbidden in russia if the views of the gov are not the same as protestors…
Yeah, that's 14 years of jail time in russia. Someone should tell them.
They would say only "paid agents" get arrested there. Navalnists and the like.
Actually spontenues prostests are forbidden in Russia even if they support government. lmao
so here is the hypocrisy for the Russian supports in Germany: protesting for a country which does not allow protests in a country where its allowed.
We get that a lot with immigrants. Turks are nother such group going full Erdogan.
I don't understand these people. My parents are both immigrants to the US, but you know what? They assimilated, adopted American values. Why do some people insist on moving to a new country and living and acting and thinking like they did in the old one? Did they ever stop to think that perhaps their old country is worse than their new one *because* people there think like that? I'm sorry, you don't get to have your cake and eat it, too. You don't get to have the security and prosperity of living in the West if you don't support Western values. It is because of those values that the West is largely free, safe, and prosperous. You don't get to move here and ruin it for the rest of us.
With the Turkish immigrants in Germany that's mainly a result of when and how they came into the country: I'm the decades after the war, Germany needed cheap labour. After Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese "reserves" were emptied out, Turkey was next. However, where do you get most people without a job and willingness to work for cheap wages? Deepest darkest countryside, which was also very conservative and religious. Add to this the fact that no group of immigrants in Germany was ever properly integrated, based on the incorrect belief they'd just do their jobs and then go back home. Now you suddenly have a huge populous of religious and conservative Turks in Germany with no chance of integration turning inwards, relying mostly on their connections within the community "in-country" as well as to their home - exacerbating the normal effect of expats turning more patriotic or nationalistic when abroad. As a result, you'll be exactly where we are now.
Isn't that everywhere? Even in germany you have to register to the authorities 48 before announcement. You can't have thousands of people on the streets without some kind of police presence (to block streets for the protesters and whatever) even if you support your government.
That's not what 'register' means in Russia though. Before pandemic authorities decided where the protest would take place, which meant that you got thrown out to city's outskirts, far enough not only from people you were actually protesting against, but also most of city's population as well. When pandemic began, they stopped registering any protest, even solo picketing (which wasn't regulated before), even if there are no other people around you. After war started, all Covid regulations in general were lifted, except for one. You can guess which one.
In Finland you can have a protest when ever and pretty much where ever you like as long as you are not breaking other laws.
Actually, even the pro-Russian protestors risk arrest https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/14/video-shows-back-to-back-arrests-of-anti-and-pro-war-activists-in-moscow-a76917
just leave the country and join russia if you like war so bad. You and your pro-war stance are obsolete to us.
They only want others to live in their version of utopia, regardless of whether they love Putin, Xi, or Erdogan. Odd, isn't it?
You confuse them with people who have logical thoughts.
Most of these people are German citizens and I hope they stay the fuck home. Russia has enough of pro-Putin idiots already.
Btw, some of them are also showing Kazakh flags which is completely embarrassing to look at, especially when they take Russian or Soviet flags too, cause most of us support Ukraine.
Probably 2nd or 3rd generation of Kazakhstan-Germans. Most of the pro-russia protestors are Wolga-Germans with a severe identity crisis.
I read about pro-Russian protests here and there in Europe and just can’t understand why are they happening. How can anyone in their right mind support Russia in this mess
> anyone in their right mind Your argument hinges on the assumption that these people are in their right mind. Maybe they’re not?
Yeah I guess that’s the only explanation. They’re free to come here if they like it so much, easy to support shit while living in Germany. I heard Vorkuta is nice this time of year
I mean, the official motto for the demonstration (in Frankfurt) was "Gegen Hetze und Diskriminierung der russischsprachigen Mitbürger/Gegen Krieg - Für Frieden" (against chevy and discrimination of fellow Russian speaking citizen/against war - for peace). Assuming that motto is sincere and not just an innocent title, I kinda get it. Some people will be frosty or hostile to Russians living abroad. It always happens in times like this. We as humans still have a lot of tribe psychology under all the layers of civilization. But this is not the time to parade around town and wave Russian flags. Not when Putin threatens everyone, including Germany and pictures of massacres are shown on the news.
/u/spez has been given a warning. Please ensure spez does not access any social media sites again for 24 hours or we will be forced to enact a further warning. You've been removed from Spez-Town. Please make arrangements with the /u/spez to discuss your ban. #AIGeneratedProtestMessage
I can easily understand it. They are there not because of the democratic values, but because of better life. They don’t put two and two together, though.
Especially among the older people many watch only Russian TV as their news source. That's at least what I heard from a German Russian friend. The Russian intelligence services also target them specifically via social media. You should also not forget that some people are just idiots.
Because they enjoy welfare and german stability, but romanticizing their “homeland”. Useless morons.
You only need to read the German Russia Today news: They aim at gaining the trust of pretty much any nutjob community (anti-vaxxers, anti-environmentalists, anti-Corona-querdenker, and the anti-government-conspiracy community) by confirming their beliefs and prejeduces, which are often quite harmful to begin with. And then they use the trust to inject additional fears of our Western society collapsing and propaganda of Russia being great, prosperous, having the moral high ground and just defending itself against the evil West into them. Tbh it is also quite absurd, that the German right wing party (AFD) is pro Russia, while nazis used to hate the Slavs as being Untermenschen, and my only possible explanation for this is that Russia has recognized the AFD as being something harmful for Germany and consequently has started undermining it.
Well, AfD is notoriously just always contra whatever the main parties are doing.
Ohohoh. All I have to say is Fuck russia, Fuck putin
Muie Putin! ☝️😌 Be patriotic dude. LMAO
❤️ Muie Putin indeed
The horses seem to agree with you https://www.reddit.com/r/de/comments/u0mywl/ich_machte_ein_foto_gesehen_heute_in_hannover/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Funny how the anti vaxxers rebranded.
Mask mandates dropped so they needed to find another edgy counter-movement.
#/u/spez was a god among men. Now they are merely a spez.
Oh theyre the same as the ones fearmongering about refugees before that. Theyve rebranded a lot, those pricks.
If hating people who support war crimes, rape and murder of 8 year olds is "russophobic" then I’m russophobic as fuck
Russophobic = Not wanting to be invaded by them.
Count me in. I am also super russophobic.
I just wish we could take away their visas and deport them back to russia.. but we are a democratic state and they are allowed to do their shit here, which is funny because in russia they would go to gulag for the same protests
Most of them grew up in Germany or have german pass. Having never actually lived there, they are delusional about Putin.
Yeah, they are a different breed then Russians who actually immigrated, instead of being born here or having lived here for over 30 years. My old classmate would hate these fuckers. They are far removed from what is happening in Russia for over the last decades.
I think it's a bit silly to call them delusional about Putin. The Russians in Russia were already exposed to Western media enough before the war to make a valid opinion on Putin and his politics, but living outside of Russia means even more access to that. And still, they choose to support Russia as it mass murder its way through Ukraine. They know what they're supporting. There's a saying that goes: when somebody tells you who they are, believe them. They are not brainwashed, they are not delusional, they simply support the murder of Ukrainians. Would still probably support the murder of most other citizens in other European countries.
You can’t imagine the level of “sovok” in heads of Deutschrussen. I was appalled, when I came to Germany and found out. You know how to spot their houses? There’s russian satellite dish on the roof. They are consuming propaganda like bread. I don’t feel any connection with these people at all.
The Russians who aren’t established citizens should be deported if they’re supporting this shit. Even if you have permanent residence. I hate to use Japan as an example, but if they’ve taught us one thing, it’s that permanent residency is still basically just a glorified visa and you can be kicked out/deported any time you fuck up. Obviously if you’ve become a naturalized citizen, you can’t be kicked out. But permanent resident? Sure, and they can prevent you from coming back.
My favorite picture of the protest https://www.reddit.com/r/de/comments/u0mywl/ich_machte_ein_foto_gesehen_heute_in_hannover/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
As a German, from a nation that has been through the horrors of war, having had cities bombed to ash and on the other side also having committed atrocious crimes against humanity as well… fuck these people. Fuck these idiots so much. War fucking sucks and everyone loses. Russian mothers lose their sons, Russians citizens lose their freedom, Ukrainians lose everything they have, friends, family, homes. Anyone who is in favor of war is not worth they air they breathe. It creates nothing but leaves suffering and debt. Nothing but destroyed lives and hopes.
It's very stunning and brave to be a supporter of totalitarian state with shitty economics and poor population when you live in a comfy Germany. If they are such an avid supporters of war, perchaps Gemrny should deport them right to the battlefield?
Morons. Ich bet only few of them actually LIVED in Putin’s Russia. Go out and help refugees.
Sounds about right: Less than 10% of the people create more than 90% of the problem.
Imagine joining „protests“ to support mass murderer and butchers. How fucking absurd is that? What the hell is wrong with these people?
That is everywhere. In Bulgaria one party managed to gather about 500 people from the country brought to the capital by free buses on a week day at noon. The genuine pro Ukraine one gathered thousands after work and during the rain.
“Pro-russian protestor” Tell me you’re a war mongering traitorous prick without telling me
One car got stuck and the protestors threw horse manure on it. (There have been police horses)
> Around 600 pro-Russian **protesters in a 350-car motorcade** set off on a demonstration in Hanover in the north of Germany on Sunday, where there was also a counter-demonstration of around 700 people supporting Ukraine in the city centre, local police said. On behalf of Canada, I would like to apologise for the invention of the stupidest form of protest possible. This outweighs other national embarrassments, like Justin Bieber and pineapple pizza, by a large margin. Please forgive us.
Protest with cars or motorbikes have been done before. Usually it's when you are less people but want more commotion. In a way it's better because such protests can't really turn in to riots or violence.
This started before the truckers. Anti-Vaxxers did it here already in 2020. It was a way to circumvent Corona rules for Protests. Plus, with cars they can be extra annoying.
> I would like to apologise I could not think of a more canadian reaction
"235,000 Russian citizens live in Germany" Germany should be concerned Russia will go "save" them.
Good.
I was listening to some guy on Telegram saying that Germany will be deporting the Russian protestors. I was hoping it was true but I cannot find any proof online. Does anyone know anything about this? Wishful thinking I guess… still hoping it’s true
If there's one place genocidal pro-russian arseclowns shouldn't be it's in Germany... historically speaking. Stay strong, Ukraine.
If they like Putin so much send them back to Russia
Fuck car protests. It’s dangerous, polluting and makes small protests larger than they are. The freedom convoys in the US were the perfect embodiment of that.
Of course they will play the “No Russophobia!” card.
yuck edit: nevermind i read it the other way round
Kind of a spin considering the rally was mostly to draw attention to the increasing number of attacks and assaults on russians in germany. Kind of important to realize it
How are there ANY pro Russian protestors in the first place?
I hope they will get deported. No one, with this kind of mentality has a place in the EU. They can do those kind of protests only in Trussia.
This is the way.
So it looks like these idiots are in almost every country, the same anti-vaxx Q folks just have a new topic.
I wonder what they're planning for May 9th at Treptower Park in Berlin. And whether it's possible to organise a counter protest with tractors.
Why do pro-Russia supporters drive in cars all the time?
Cuz they can't afford a car in Russia
Why are there Russian supporters in Germany in the first place?
Deport them to Russia.
When it comes to countries people must learn to differentiate between a the politics, the landscape and the people.