Riekstiņš, a former Foreign Minister, said that people in Russia still submit to state power, even though they grumble and moan about it. The government meanwhile keeps them compliant with various financial benefits. According to Riekstiņš, this shows that Russian society does not really regard the war as an existential one with the destiny of the nation on the line.
"If it was a 'father's war', people would be queuing up at the war commissariat," said the diplomat.
People also understand that the talk that Russia is continuing what was left undone in the Second World War is not true, because it's clear that Russia has invaded the territory of another country and was not itself attacked.
According to Riekstiņš, at the same time, Russian society is not close to anything like a revolution that would change the Putinist system.
"How will it develop? It would be difficult and frivolous to make any predictions. Such a situation has not existed since the Second World War," the ambassador said.
He admitted that the Kremlin hopes for the collapse of European unity, and that in Russia society believes it has a higher "threshold of pain" than the average European. Riekstiņš emphasized that currently nothing justifies such ideas and people in Russia will have to live with various restrictions caused by sanctions against the aggressor country.