Specifically here, social media sentiment tends to be poor evidence of anything broader, due to being dominated by the vocal minority of people who post the most, as well as a non-trivial number of bots.

On the other hand, I know where you're coming from. I grew up in NYC feeling pretty much American, but my family is Russian and I speak the language. Over years of encounters with my own extended family and the social network around them, I've struggled to not overgeneralize, to keep context in mind, and to remain open.

But it's hard when you repeatedly encounter so many deeply cynical, bigoted, punitive, and hatefully-normative personalities. I'm hardly a counter-cultural outlier, but I do deviate from the suburban right-wing-materialist worldview that this particular Russian community prefers, so I may as well be from Mars. For that I was told to my face, multiple times, that I'm not normal ("not normal" is the exact phrasing they use) - and because of that I deserve and should accept the criticism and abuse coming my way. And it just keeps coming - casual racism that's basically accepted wisdom and notably bloodthirsty (nuke em all and don't look back!). Then, habitual low-level fraud that no one even recognizes as such (you should really file for divorce! then you can do (a) and (b) and get this [social benefit!]), the elevation of hustle and cunning above all other forms of intelligence, and smug superiority when it comes to political and ethical questions.

The war is some kind of last straw for me. Now, I hear a group of people speaking Russian, I feel an instinctive revulsion. It's not good, but it is what it is.

All online spots - forums, bbses, etc. - had at least one troll reposting from the offical news. More places than one had these as mods or admins. Agitating and stirring the pot was a daily occurence, which was quite effecient given that migrant communities tends to comprise people that aren't exactly well off and generally happy with life. To give an example - people discussing faking a divorce to double their unemployment benefits, that sort of thing. So given them an outlet to vent was working well. Conversely, those who were better established steered clear of these and formed smaller clusters of their own.

So what the GP is experiencing is likely related to them being (originally) a part of one of these poorer bubbles and the effect just lingers on.

The US was was relatively good at integrating migrants into a certain idea of america, but that's not the norm around the world, and I don't think that vision of america exists anymore. Maybe in the upper-middle class, but certainly gone in the lower classes.

Not to mention Brits who moved to Spain because there were "too many bloody immigrants" at home.

Yes, after Soviet Union fell, we Russians found out that all we've been taught about capitalism was true: unemployment, dog-eat-dog competition, class divide and all that stuff. It's not at all a paradise we have imagined. It's time for you to see that all you've been told about Communism was true, too: McCarthy was an idiot, but he was right. There are no "good Russians" waiting to be liberated from "evil Putin". There are "evil Commies" who Putin wholly represents.

Stop trying to "fix" Russia. It is impossible. It has to be contained, made as weak and irrelevant as possible to present less danger.

The other day I spoke with this older Russian lady that works at the local pub - she overheard some of us patrons talking about the situation, and she went into a 20 min rant about western media being pure propaganda, that Putin was such a great guy, and that there was no real war. It was quite bizarre, as she's been living here since the mid-90s.