How are your Russian friends/colleagues?

Question

Have you lost contact with friends? Colleagues? Has their funding been cut? Have they been silenced by Western companies for where they live?What is their opinion regarding things? Can they be truthful considering where they are?There's been so much rhetoric regarding the people as a whole I hear very few stories/anecdotes of the people stuck between a rock and a hard place there.Seems only to be mentioned when something pivotal from a global tech perspective hinges on 'that one Russian developer'.Personally I know indie lens manufacturers that are Russian and indie lens manufacturers that are Ukrainian and we all have a mutual love of cinema and soviet lens design. But fundamentally they cannot break bread. It's hard to see.

javamanfossils · Accepted Answer

I know quite a few Russians who moved to Europe during the war, accepting the first reasonable job offer, scared by the military draft and political repressions. It also seems like many still want to move abroad but can't due to some personal circumstances. So you can imagine what they think of their government and the war.
As you mention lens manufacturers, I used to have LOMO lenses. LOMO still exists, I wonder if you were referring to it and similar manufacturers? A considerable part of its products (not widely known among indie photographers and filmmakers, I guess) are military and dual-use. It's the same for other ex-soviet lens factories in Belarus and Ukraine.
In corporations linked to the Russian government, you can't expect people to publicly express their opinions.

soueuls · Answer

I have met many Russians in Phuket as well as Ukrainians. We were all spending hours in a coworking, doing the usual chitchat and drinking a few cocktails/beers on the weekend.
Nobody really cared.
Some had family there. But it's not like you can hate a Russian guy doing the same job as you, living abroad. The guy is not going to overthrow is government or anything.
I felt the same vibe when I was pursuing a master degree in China. Taiwanese and Chinese got along pretty well. We were just a bunch of smart kids in our twenties, debating, drinking, sharing stories and exploring life.

bradwood · Answer

The only Russians I know are expats and fully anti-Putin and against the war. I wonder if there are any expat Russians that are pro-Putin. It seems hard to imagine but I guess there must be.