Can you please share with me some realistic tactical advice how can a bunch of unarmed civilians overthrow the government guarded by ~5 million armed, organized and well paid thugs who are currently on Putin's payroll?
Can you explain why you want "some realistic tactical advice how can a bunch of unarmed civilians overthrow the government guarded by ~5 million armed, organized and well paid thugs who are currently on Putin's payroll"? Is this the only way that Putin could be overthrown that you can think of?
> Ultimately the people who are being punished are responsible for stopping the punishment by removing their government.
I'm one of the punished people. Sure, I don't want the nuclear fallout. So please, share with me your wisdom on how should I, a responsible person, act to remove Putin from power?
> Is this the only way that Putin could be overthrown that you can think of?
Apparently, you were able to think of several ways how Putin could be overthrown, I'll be happy to hear them all.
It's sad you can't think of any way except literally violently overthrowing him! But I'm happy to share my ideas.
The most important thing is to build support against him. Putin isn't in power because he pays everyone so well, but because he has enough support that nobody can easily overthrow him without themselves suffering for it afterwards. But just look a couple of weeks back - Wagner has at most 50k people, and they could have succeeded. They probably would have if the russian public was outspoken against Putin, because other supporters would have joined. It's all about the key supporters, and ultimately about public support. But what can you do to strengthen suport against him?
- Spread non-russian news to people
- Tell them about the horrors the russian military is inflicting on Ukraine
- Tell people about Putins close supporters who seem to be building support against him
- Tell people about the terrible effect the war has on those drafted
>Putin isn't in power because he pays everyone so well
Oh he absolutely is. The wages in key riot police/FSB/Rosgvardia units have grown at a rate of ~5x or more compared to the rest of the population, they have early and lavish pensions and lots of other benefits.
And because he rules with terror and everyone vocal against him end up jailed or dead. KGB know their business well.
> But what can you do to strengthen suport against him? ...
After ~1 week public activity, you'll be apprehended by the KGB. So you'll naturally try to 'spread the information' on foreign websites, but they get blocked really fast, in a day or less. You'll start trying to use foreign VPN services, but you can't, because they are all commercial and you can't pay them with your Russian visa/mastercard because of the ban they imposed on Russians. Nice?
In the real life, not your fantasies, lots of people were very actively spreading the news about the evils of the Putin's regime. They are either dead, jailed or have fled the country.
Btw, while we're at it, Wagner never tried a coup, but you're right, they had some (very slim) chance to succeed: they had lots of weapons, including tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, etc. Anti-putin protesters don't have any of that.
> Any problems?
Yes, quite a few, actually.
> The most important thing is to build support against him.
Ok assuming you have support against him. How exactly do you deal with 5 million well-payed armed guards?
That's undoable if the population supports the government, as it is currently in Russia - and doable without much violence when government and its institutions lose legitimacy in the eyes of its population. The USSR was vastly more powerful than Russia, yet it crumbled in a very short time when people simply stopped recognizing its government as legitimate. Town governments declared self-governance and stopped following orders from the central government, and local police, KGB and army chiefs stood by and ignored orders that come from Moscow, until new legitimate leaders emerged from the people and they quietly switched sides. Why aren't we seeing anything like this in Russia? Because 3/4 still support Putin and the war. To most Russians, it's a legitimate government doing the right thing. And hence comes the responsibility.
> That's undoable if the population supports the government, as it is currently in Russia
So what exactly is your source for this information? Polls by organization that Kremlin allows to work in Russia? Did it occur to you that they are as trustworthy as so-called referendums in Ukraine regions where 97% 'voted' to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia?
> The USSR was vastly more powerful than Russia, yet it crumbled in a very short time when people simply stopped recognizing its government as legitimate
No, not really. The USSR was broke and was extremely lucky to have a decent human being as a leader, Gorbachev, as a leader, who didn't want any bloodshed. Had some hardline monster like Andropov lived longer, everyone here world be marching in lockstep, North Korea style.
And Putin's government is not even broke, it's actually swimming in money. Sure, the war is expensive, but he is far from being unable to pay the people who guard his regime. And I struggle to find an example in history of a popular revolution overthrowing a non-broke regime.
> Town governments declared self-governance ...
To put it mildly, you have a rather distant understanding of how it all happened.
