The Google search on ‘how to break an arm’ is a trending topic in Russia: young people do not want war

The reality in which Putin, a former KGB spy, lives is very different from that of the more Westernized young Russians. And they don’t want to die for a cause they don’t understand.

A few months ago, when the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government prohibited the use of words such as “invasion” or “war”. Today Vladimir Putin he has called up the reservists and has announced a partial mobilization of the population. Young people fear being recruited by the Russian army to die in one war they don’t understand The term “how to break an arm“it’s already trending topic in Google searches in Russia.

According to the BBC, the official propaganda of the Russian government is that the “neo-Nazi” government of Ukraine, supported by NATO, has threatened Russians living in Ukraine, and the Russian army has had to go to defend them. A speech that they are obsessed with defending by taking total control of the media, and blocking the Internet.

But the reality of Putin, former KGB spy chief of the Soviet Union, is very different from that of the young Russians who ate at McDonald’s, carried an iPhone in their pocket and played video games online with their friends from the United States. United States or Europe.

Many Russian citizens do not understand this war about which they know almost nothing, because the government filters all the information. data as the number of Russian soldiers killed, numbering in the tens of thousands, do not reach the population.

Until now things were more or less calm because Russia was using its professional soldiers in the invasion. But the turn that the war has given, with Ukraine recovering positions, and the distancing from Russia’s allies such as India or Turkey, which have publicly asked Putin to stop the war, have changed things.

The president of russia it has mobilized the reservist soldiers, and has announced a partial mobilization. That means that at any moment he could recruit the population. Something that many young Russians are not ready to accept.

According to Iam Bremmer, a political scientist and writer of several books on international politics, searches for “how to break an arm” have multiplied in Google Russia in the last days:

If you break your arm it is difficult to be recruited, although it is not a guarantee that you will escape. The number 100 that appears in the graph is not searches, but the ranking of interest in the topicwhich indicates that it is a trending topic in Russia. reflect a rise in rejection of war and rebellionespecially among the youngest.

Today the media reports the arrest of 1,300 people in different Russian cities, who were protesting the war. It has also been recorded an increase in outbound flights from Moscow and St. Petersburgwith tickets sold or prices that triple their value, according to AP reports:

A video with queues of 36 kilometers on the border between Finland and Russia, to escape the country, has gone viral on social networks, but it seems to be false.

It seems more and more clear that the invasion of Ukraine only their own can stop it Russian citizens with their protests, and the refusal of young people to be recruited. Hope it ends as soon as possible.