There is no Ukraine. That Russians think of war and why they consider themselves victims

For most Russians, the ongoing war is a crime without a victim, writes psychologist Svetlana Chunin. Just because they do not perceive Ukraine as something alien, and therefore - there is no "other" who can be harmful. This war gives the unique opportunities to look into the consciousness of the citizens of warring parties. In real time. Moreover, we can look into the enemy's mind and observe the movement of mental gears.

And what do we read there (I have the happiness of independent sociologists, and sometimes even with raw research data)? And we read, in particular, the fact that Ukraine, as parties to the confrontation, as a victim of aggression, does not exist in the mind of the average Russian. Yes, most of them understand that in the event of defeat they will have to pay reparations, and they do not want to. That is, they generally understand that the war causes some harm, is destroying.

But for them it is a crime without a victim. They do not perceive this as harm to Ukraine and Ukrainians, in their idea Ukraine is "ours". There is no "other" here to who can be harmful. In addition to the Nazis, of course, but it is holy. And Ukraine is not a victim, not the object of harm, but "territory". In the imagination of the Russian, the victim is them. They were deceived, humiliated, "jumped" on them, threatened, refused respect and more. And so, it is a consensus thought in Russia today.

And I think that this is the denial of aggression and harm, the exclusion of a true victim from the equation of war and usurpation of the role of the victim by the aggressor is an important psychological mechanism for the solution of war. This is what makes the war possible. One dehumanization of the enemy is not limited, that is not enough. The aggressor should not only be published by the enemy, but to turn it into abstraction, take it out of brackets, exclude from the field of view.