One captured Russian soldier says he worries about what will happen if he is returned to Russia in a prisoner swap. “If I have the opportunity, I’ll refuse to be exchanged." Another fighter reported that a doctor declared him unfit for combat after he was wounded in March, but his commander ordered him back to the front.
It’s easy to be skeptical of propaganda from the outside looking in, but once your immersed in it then it can be difficult to parse out reality from fiction.
Case in point look at shockingly large percentage of americans, many even from the north, who will argue the civil war was a matter of states rights. Hell the US went to war against Iraq and it initially had strong support because we were still reeling from 9/11.
It’s important to always keep in mind that NOBODY is immune to propoganda or group think, nobody is above the narrative, and the people who think they are tend to be particularly vulnerable.