The Russian state has never (well, almost never) needed people with a sense of integrity. They are hard to deal with, that much is clear. Dedicate your life to your Motherland, but never sacrifice your integrity. But if this integrity is never tarnished, these people can also demand respect for themselves. They can even take a critical look at the tsar’s orders and, God forbid, the tsar himself. And then how do you cane your entourage, a practice widely used by Russia’s most well known westernisation supporter, Peter the Great?

The communist state also did not have much regard for people with integrity. The Soviet Union bestowed careers, money, and titles to sordid people, the ones willing to go to great lengths in their baseness: grass on their neighbour and then move in their former flat, buy up belongings confiscated from detainees in a special secret service shop for close to nothing, denounce a teacher at a meeting, heap praises on the leader and tell stories of a fantastic life in the Soviet Union overseas.

Nowadays, closets and even rooms full of skeletons are an advantage rather than an obstacle in climbing the career ladder. And it’s not even about having dirt on someone for potential blackmail — no one has been interested in it for a while now. It’s a crucial identity factor, being of the same kind. And everything that should seemingly compromise one’s future — proven bribery, petty crookery like registering real estate properties for your 90-year-old mother — does not stop these people from triumphantly marching towards new career heights. Just don’t speak more than needed and keep looking at those above you with that dog-like loyal gaze.

Intellect and education are also more of a hindrance. Look at the faces of the country’s crème de la crème who are attentively taking the president’s parliament address in while battling to stay awake. Dress them a little differently, bring back retro hairdos and voilà: here are your Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union delegates, carefully tracking the moment to burst into thunderous applause and worrying that they might stop applauding earlier than others.

“We don’t need smarts, we need loyalty.” But these people still don’t get it: there is no loyalty here, a betrayal can come at the drop of a hat. It’s not even about loyalty per se, they rely on backstabbers who are only loyal to their seniors as long as they are at the top.

If only this moral decay was exclusive to the upper echelons, however. The state works on all levels. Millions of people are drawn into various schemes and cons. But don’t rush to judge them, there are enough judges out there as it is. Let’s try to understand what they are all about. Not justify this behaviour, but understand it!

For example, a teacher’s job description does not say that they have to partake in electoral fraud or dance around Zs in circles. But the system is so meticulously put together that the majority agrees to comply, while only a handful of people dare to oppose it. Why is that?

A teacher is usually a poor and dependent person. Not “I have nothing to eat” poor but poor in the sense that they live from salary to salary and are very reliant on the good will of the headmaster. And if the headmaster is understanding and accommodating when it comes to various ordinary life situations or shielding from criticism of those above, then how can you not meet the headmaster halfway and slightly alter the numbers on a vote tally sheet. Elections don’t mean anything anyway, authorities will do what they want regardless. Vote or not, the result is the same. Meanwhile, the political opposition is also not particularly engaging — just a bunch of loudmouths. Z-events are also fine: children were fed so much rubbish in the Soviet times and they still turned out fine. On top of that, it’s hard to find a new job if you are unfortunate enough to be sacked: age and so on, you know.

Or let’s look into this case. Public sector workers attend a rally/concert in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, wave flags, and create a happy-clappy TV image for the tsar’s exultation. And can you actually sit it out? Remember when your child was sick and the boss let you stay home to care for them even though you didn’t have an official doctor’s note? And you are going to take a principled stance now? You also get a paid day off or even some money to be patriotic at the stadium. Moreover,

So, many of those complicit in lies and offences (particularly electoral fraud), firstly, don’t think that they do anything bad and, secondly, believe that they have no other choice. I am not justifying it, just trying to understand.

There are also people who participate in Russia’s political performances almost without any pressure to do so: students who attend them for 300-500 rubles (€3.6-€6). They have time to reflect and are not threatened by anything. They just earn money for a bottle of beer to drink straight after they leave the stadium and chuck the flags away. They also might be after winning favours from those in charge: they could be the ones to hand out the flags next and increase their check to 3,000 rubles (€36.5). Somewhat of a career.

They were paid. And what will they have to pay? They might at this moment think that nothing at all, but that’s not true. Hypocrisy — something that they had to resort to at the Luzhniki Stadium to feign emotion — corrupts people. Albeit slowly and unnoticeably for the person, but inevitably, nonetheless. There’s been so much written about it: what happens to a person who always has to bend and lie and to a society filled with people like this. Accepting war and embracing other abominations are rooted in the same idea: saying what you do not believe in and voting for those who you do not trust. They are predicated on lies which you don’t see as important today but still realise that it is a lie.

And you don’t even do it out of patriotic feelings: like it is required to beat NATO. You do this for money and for promises of something good to come. And what is taken in return? Some sell their professional skills, but it’s not your case — you don’t write code, dig trenches, or teach kids to draw. You sell a piece of your soul, your freedom to speak what you think and do what you want rather than what is ordered. Well, this freedom is your soul, which is exactly what you put up for sale. You might disagree and say that it’s just for a couple of hours, and then you are free. Ok, you rent your soul. A sex worker rents their body, you rent your soul. Not for much. Well, it is not worth much on this market anyway.

This 300-ruble student is much more worthy of condemnation than a teacher who has to either play along or go for a heroic act. These public sector workers are victims. Almost all of them are. Even the women who thanked people in power for the fur coats meant to offset their husbands’ deaths are also victims. They acted in an amoral and disgusting fashion but they were lied to, confused, and promised something — a school spot for their children? — to make them say these horrible things on camera. Yes, they are guilty but they are also victims.

But some people did not sell their souls to the Devil. They are his envoys to Russia. They are the ones who come up with all this sleaze: rally/concerts and fur coats to corrupt fellow citizens further. They do not kill or order bombings of Ukrainian cities. But they are terrible criminals, nonetheless. And I would really like them to be found guilty at a trial which will hopefully take place in the future.