When one considers these factors—the nature of the Putin regime intertwined with Russian history, political culture, and propaganda narratives—it becomes clear why, as the above-mentioned WCIOM survey revealed, 46 percent of Russians believe that the main goals of the “military operation” are to defend Russia, demilitarize Ukraine, and stop NATO expansion; 19 percent believe the goal is to “denazify” Ukraine; 17 percent to defend Donbass; and 5 percent to occupy and annex Ukraine. In other words, about half of the people who acknowledge that they support the use of force in Ukraine justify it as a preemptive strike, an act of defense: If Russia hadn’t attacked, then it would have been invaded.

This perception is clearly a propaganda construct, albeit a powerful one. It doesn’t, for example, reconcile in people’s minds with the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a Russian-speaking Jew who won a free and fair election and is thus the legitimate leader of Ukraine. Also, according to the above-mentioned Russian Field survey, 88 percent of Russians apparently want to be friends with Ukraine—a country that Russian troops have already been bombarding for several days at the time the survey was conducted. These examples of cognitive dissonance point to the lack of understanding and critical thinking with regards to Russian aggression and war crimes in Ukraine. It appears that propaganda narratives may have been injected directly into the unconscious, but they do not constitute a coherent belief system: It is difficult to imagine how one can both support the bombardment of the allegedly Nazi Ukraine and want to be friends with it at the same time.

Delusion and denial could be related to the central elements of Russia’s national identity that envisions itself as the “country that won against fascism”—not an aggressor but rather the country that has always had to defend itself against (mostly Western) invaders. The power of national pride rooted in Russia’s sacrifice in World War II has been so all-encompassing that for the small number of Russians who woke up on February 24 to the horrifying news that their motherland had launched a full-fledged war against Ukraine, have been living an endless nightmare since that day. That part of their identity has collapsed. To those Russians who continue to support the war, the myth of WWII victory has served as a protective shield from the truth. It is not clear how long this denial will last, but, if history is any indication, sooner or later it will crash, and the consequences of being exposed to the horrible truth will be devastating.