The more horrific the allegations against Russia — such as the apparent massacre of civilians in Bucha— the stronger the impulse to reject them as lies, says Grigory Yudin, a sociologist at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences.

“Otherwise, it’s just impossible to live with,” Yudin says.

Yudin says Russians believe implicitly that it’s impossible to change Putin’s behavior. And so while perhaps half of the population supports Putin unconditionally, many others do so out of self-preservation.

“You need some storyline that tells you how things are fine. And basically the government provides them with this storyline, so they’re willing to support it because it helps them to survive,” he says.

Driving the news: Anything or anyone that doesn’t support the Kremlin line is being suppressed. Demonstrators and journalists face up to 15 years in prison for protesting the war or reporting truthfully on it. The protests that began after the invasion have largely died down.