BTW I'm Russian, 39 years old. I was grown in typical Russian family with engineer and financial specialist parents. I was taught in usual school and university. But I hate all past 20 Putin years and all Putin's supporters. And I know I'm not alone. There is no mythic soul or mentality.
There is: https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%.... That you don't understand it does not make it less real.
As I understand it (I'm from Poland, not exactly Russia, but we share enough culture and history) it's a way of describing something between culture and attitude to life. It's not limited to a phenomenon of extreme political apathy combined with distrust of anyone unknown (this is called homo sovieticus), but also a way of coping with learned helplessness, mostly by expression in family and close relatives.