Oct. 15, 2025
State propaganda efforts to glorify the soldiers deployed to the Ukrainian front, whom Vladimir Putin called the country’s “new elite,” have proven futile.
Approximately 40% of Russian citizens consider the “heroes of the SVO” to be spiritually crippled, and their return from the front is expected to lead to an increase in crime and conflict, according to a Levada Center poll
. According to the study, 41% of respondents believe the war “crippled the souls” of those who experienced it; 19% believe that “SVO participants” have become “cruel and prone to violence,” and 11% believe that the war has made people “indifferent and cynical.”
Young people and middle-aged adults were more likely to express negative opinions about the military, according to the poll. Specifically, 23-24% of respondents aged 18 to 39 reported a “propensity for violence,” compared to 15% of those aged 55 and over.
Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed by Levada Center said they expect a spike in crime following the return of the “heroes of the SVO.” However, sociologists emphasize that there is no consensus among Russians on this matter: 44% said the country is more likely to see “an improvement in law and order and social harmony,” while 17% were “undecided.”
Furthermore, even a significant proportion of those who support the war (35%) and rely on propaganda TV channels (27%) see a threat from those returning from the front. Considering the resources the regime has invested in creating a positive image of the “hero of the SVO,” the Levada Center’s data can be considered catastrophic for the regime, notes political scientist Abbas Gallyamov.
Almost half of respondents dared to offer an answer that contradicted the official government’s position: they acknowledged that they felt negative, rather than positive, emotions toward this group, Gallyamov explains: “Considering the fear factor, it’s safe to say that in reality, the proportion of those who view ‘heroes’ negatively is much higher.”
The Kremlin shares the public’s concerns: Vladimir Putin fears that the army’s return from the war in Ukraine threatens to increase crime and destabilize the political system he created, three sources close to the Presidential Administration previously told Reuters. According to one of them, Putin sees the risk of a situation resembling the 1990s, when veterans began to form gangs and organized crime groups after the end of the war in Afghanistan.
According to court records, soldiers returning from Ukraine have already killed and maimed more than 750 Russians. Putin’s concerns stem not only from the veterans’ psychological trauma and criminal records, but also from economic realities, Reuters sources told us: salaries at the front are many times higher than the incomes available to “heroes of the Soviet military” in civilian life. The end of the war threatens them with a sharp deterioration in their financial situation and a surge in discontent.
What poetic justice. The ruskie sheep fear their own coming back home. They know very well that the cockroach army is made up of stinking, dirty rabble of murderers, rapists, and thieves. They will bring lots of misery with them to increase the already large-scale gloom and despair in the crap hole.
I guess the stories have been circulating in mafia land about the trash that are already back in the shithole.
You can’t keep something like this a secret, not even in mafia land.
I don’t recall these same people trying to stop the scum from going to Ukraine in return for a fat paycheck.
I hope they will reap the storm they sowed.
And most of them will also be opposition to Putler after what they went through.