Lacking a positive national identity, Russians continue to be governed by a dangerous imperial mindset that betrays both subservience and aggression. Putin has cynically built on this dubious foundation. The cliché that the war against Ukraine is squarely on Putin’s conscience is still gaining traction in the international discourse. The people of Russia are said to be brainwashed victims of propaganda and censorship, suffering the effects of Western sanctions. President Biden even said in March that ‘You, the Russian people, are not our enemy.’ Is this position tenable? I believe not. The majority of Russians are criminally negligent. They are failing to meet minimum human standards of conduct, guilty of willful blindness to Putin’s atrocious war against civilians and urban