Putin is so enormously popular amongst the common people of...

Putin is so enormously popular amongst the common people of Russia because he is completely in tune with their feelings.

Watching ordinary Russians being interviewed on the street in the middle of the city of Kursk I was struck by how their basic positive feelings of "fraternity" - one of them used this word - towards Ukrainians seemingly hasn't changed at all. Although very concerned about the current invasion of their oblast they spoke only in terms of hoping the invading soldiers eventually "come to their senses".

From a purely rational point of view there would be no point in the Kremlin doing or saying anything to try to alter these positive feelings towards Ukrainians and it's no surprise Russia's military actions are referred to as a "Special Military Operation" rather than using aggressive terms like "declaration of war".

Likewise Russia's referring to the ultra nationalists as Nazis, the rotten apples in the cart who were responsible for the civil war, to distinguish them from the good normal Ukrainians. They love Putin for protecting the pro Russian / identifying-as-Russian victims of these so-called Nazis in eastern Ukraine following the disastrous anti-Russian 2014 coup.