Historically speaking, Russia seems to like its Tsars

Unfortunately that's sooo true :( My grandmother went to Stalin's funeral and she got lucky because she didn't get trampled. So many people showed up to pay their respects that many may people died at the funeral. My great-grandmother apparently cried for a week...

Stalin was always very loved. Gorbachev was too permissive and progressive and that's when everything went to shit. The second Putin shows a sign of weakness, he's probably out. He's gonna be solidifying his grip and sanctions are only helping him right now.

There's a big "them vs us" mentality in Russia, and sanctions only cement that belief. "The US and NATO started the war in Ukraine, and Putin only wants peace" is the kind of shit you hear every day on TV. When the rebels bombed Kharkiv, Russian TV said the Ukranian government did it, which make no sense. Why would the government bomb a city with no rebels or unrest? Just for the fun of it? The propaganda levels are crazy, reminds me a lot of Serbia in the 90's.

Right now, everyone's really disapproving of the fact that Ukraine stopped paying government pensions to people in DNR. So yeah, rebels are there saying "we don't want to be part of Ukraine anymore, but keep paying us pensions while we bomb your towns". URghhh, this whole situation is crap.