That stands in stark contrast to the 2014 annexation of Crimea, when the government actively mobilized mass shows of support for a highly popular operation.

This time around, there was “no big demand” for war, and Putin — with his eyes apparently fixed on history rather than public opinion — hardly tried to generate one, says Alexander Baunov of Carnegie Moscow.

Rather than patriotic fervor, Baunov sensed the slight “embarrassment” of Muscovites Thursday morning as they withdrew cash from ATMs in case Russia is cut off from the global financial system.

Breaking it down: Most Russians were not expecting war on any scale, let alone a full-scale invasion, but a majority also accepts Putin’s argument that the West has created the crisis, says Denis Volkov, director of Russia’s last independent pollster, the Levada Center.