While Russia leads a relentless war in Ukraine that has resulted in millions of Ukrainian refugees fleeing to neighboring countries, Western brands such as fast-food chains are still continuing a mass exodus from Russia.

The closure of McDonald's branches in Russia revived many memories of the end of the Soviet Union, as food was - and still is - an important political symbol, especially as it was associated with a brand whose entry into the heart of the former Soviet Union marked the end of the Cold War era.

But the subsequent era ended quickly, giving way to the rapid spread of Russian nationalism, which was a direct result of the country's economic suffocation through sanctions and the West's broad rejection of Russia and its war on Ukraine.

The West is punishing Russia in the hope that the terrible economic crisis triggered by the sanctions will put an end to the bloody war on Ukraine, the independent country that was once an integral part of the Soviet Union.

In their joint article for The Conversation, academics Julia Khriptan Horhager of Colorado State University and Evgenia Pyatovskaya of the University of South Florida write that those who believe sanctions will change Russia and Russians and end the war know little about the country, its history, and its people.

The constant suffering of the Russians

The authors say that Russians are used to turmoil and instability.

They have endured harsh social experiments during the 20th and early 21st centuries, imposed on them by their political leadership.

With the exception of the rare example of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Russian leadership during this period was not at all democratic.

The country, whose participation in the First World War was led by a weak Caesar, emerged impoverished from this conflict.

The Tsar's rule was brutally overthrown by the Bolshevik uprising that ushered in Soviet rule for decades.

The formation of the Soviet state entailed the exile of millions of its people to gulag camps, many of whom were executed in cold blood during Stalin's mass repression from 1917 to 1956.

Private property was abolished in 1929, and political leaders commanded absolute and impartial obedience to the Soviet state. World War II required a painful sacrifice of every citizen, children included.

After the war ended, the Soviet Union built a metaphorical "Iron Curtain", preventing its citizens from traveling and communicating with the West.

Attempts by the Soviet state to extend its communist influence led to the Cold War, during which time failed agrarian reforms led to rationing of foodstuffs, and the painful disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1990 triggered economic turmoil in newly formed Russia, as well as causing unemployment and high suicide rates. .

What does this account of woes teach us?

It indicates that the Russians cannot be afraid of the lack of goods imposed by sanctions, the authors say.

High fashion brands, iPhones, luxury coffee and foreign cars have become part of Russian life over the past 20 years, but Russians have owned them for so short a time that they can imagine life without them.

United in their struggle

Historically, any political and economic struggle united Russia and its people, especially in the face of a common enemy.

The enemy has traditionally been the West.

World War II and the Cold War united the Russian nation around the idea of ​​self-immolation as central to Soviet identity.

The identity - a kind of Soviet exceptionalism - consists of a morally superior nation that values ​​the "mysterious Russian" soul more than the perishable Western body.

The Soviet identity included a large variety of ethnicities, including but not limited to Russia, and although the capital of the USSR was Moscow, and the official language of the USSR was Russian, the USSR was made up of 14 additional republics, and united More than 100 people.

The alleged unity of nations is debatable, as the similarity has often been imposed by forced assimilation, the spread of Russian and Soviet language and culture, or state monopoly over everything, along with collective thinking.

So "Soviet" refers to anyone who lived in the Soviet Union, including Ukrainians, Russians, Georgians, Belarusians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Estonians.

The USSR used arrogant rhetoric glorifying the Soviet similarity and moral sacrifice of its people as an engine of patriotism and loyalty to the Motherland, the core of which was Russia.

Among the popular slogans and sayings are “First, think of your motherland, and only then think of yourself,” and “I am the last letter of the alphabet,” as well as “I was going to learn Russian on my own because Lenin spoke it.”

Propaganda showing Soviet boys ready to play their role as armed volunteers in any conflict during the Cold War (Getty Images) 

In the end, the words "Russia" and "Soviet Union" were understood and used interchangeably, making their connotations similar at home and abroad.

So, for many Russians, especially those born and raised in the Soviet Union, watching Ukraine embrace the West means letting a part of Russia's history go with it.

wounded bear

That is why the authors believe that the strategy of Western sanctions can backfire.

Although not all Russians support the war in Ukraine and the government that dragged them into it.

But all Russians suffer from sanctions and crisis.

Their common suffering is dangerous: it is too familiar, it makes them angry, and some of them are eager to respond.

The possibility stems from the Russian nationalist mentality, which originated in the Soviet era and now affects even generations growing up in post-Soviet Russia.

Western liberties are only partially attractive, which the Russians historically have not possessed, neither freedom of speech, self-determination and religion, nor unrestricted travel.

Instead, the Russian people are patient, often irrationally loyal to their ruthless motherland, whose leader Vladimir Putin started the war.

Where does that leave the Russians?

In the writers' view, it leaves them in a deep predicament: the aggressor state that is currently bombing and destroying Ukraine is also their beloved homeland, and is now the only place in the world that accepts them as they are.

Being an international pariah is not new to Russians. They are used to it in many areas ranging from climate politics to sports and foreign affairs, including the widely condemned annexation of Crimea.

But the situation today is more strict, and the chances of the Russians turning to their government - whenever they feel rejected by the international community - are great.

This is likely to intensify Putin's authoritarian regime under the guise of restoring the country's industry and economy in the face of Western rejection.

Russia will have a common enemy again, and because thinking - and disobedience - in Russia has dire consequences, the opposition will not be heard.

Putin's opponents - among them Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko, Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny and many others - some have been killed, some are in prison, and they represent cautionary punishments.

Encouraging Russians to protest their authoritarian government, as the West did, while severing ties with them, becomes an ideological contradiction.

It is punishing people for what their government is doing while they are economically stifled, according to the authors.

In icy Siberia, safety rules are a matter of life and death, and one of those rules is to always leave an escape route in front of the bear, as the bear is especially aggressive when injured and trapped and protects its young.

And the wounded bear, which represents the Russian nation, is no exception.