How much blame does Russian society bear for Putin's war crimes? (Long article, translation in comments)

Well, if you don't mind, I'll tell you my story. I'm from Russia. All my life I loved my country, but hated the state. I had a good attitude towards sexual minorities and taught this to others. He always had liberal views and, first of all, valued freedom. In 2014, I realized that this is a collapse. Almost all my conscious life I dreamed of going to Europe, I adored the USA and other countries. I thought it was an inhabited land, a paradise for free people. February 24, 2022 I was at Vzhase. I wanted to urgently leave for Turkey forever. Then I saw that the Ukrainians write about us. Terrible things. But, they are right, I thought, what else should they think. Then I met a girl from Donetsk. I learned a lot from her... She lived all her life in Ukraine and was horrified by what their army was doing. Then I saw what the Western media were saying, what people in Europe were writing. Began to learn materiel. Lots of articles in open access, avoided Russian news resources and repelled from 2-3 outside sources on each topic. My opinion has changed a lot. The United States simply uses the European Union for its own purposes, in order to make money on it and at the same time weaken it, it provokes China, and this is all normal for you. Freedom, as it turned out, is also not so much. There are almost no truthful articles on the situation in Ukraine in your sources (Hello independent media, and who pays them?) In general, now I understand that my place is here. Time will judge everyone. I know you're throwing cons, but still.

/r/europe Thread Link - spiegel.de