Russia Rising?

Said Marina Katayeva, 30, a doctor, 8220;Now we will be more respected.8221; Alyona Latyuk, 22, said, 8220;I hope the West learns a lesson.8221;

Other Russians say the West may simply have learned what they already knew: Russia is back. And its actions in Georgia are nothing to get excited about, just the ordinary business of a great power in its traditional backyard. Their tone was proud.

8220;Russia wants to resolve things peacefully,8221; said Ms. Latyuk, in a white tank top on which she had stenciled, 8220;No War.8221;

But while many Russians seem to believe their country had a right to send troops into South Ossetia, there is a wide range of opinion, and some ambivalence, about how the war will affect Russia. Some in the business community regard Russia8217;s military move as a disaster that caused a sudden dip in the stock market this week.

Polls show that while Russians broadly support the government8217;s actions, support for sending in troops is far from unanimous. In a poll conducted by the respected Levada Center, 53 per cent of Russians said they supported sending troops into Georgia; 36 per cent did not. But 70 per cent said they believe South Ossetia should either become part of Russia or win independence.

Artyem Bychkov spent his smoking breaks last Thursday watching people stream into a South Ossetian cultural centre near the cafe where he works to deliver donations for refugees who fled the fighting. For him, it was no surprise that Russia had the boldness and the ability to take the steps it took.

8220;I never had any doubts,8221; he said. 8220;Only the West didn8217;t understand.8221; To Mr. Bychkov, 27, Russia8217;s military successes are the logical conclusion of Russia8217;s progression from the poor country he knew years ago to the oil power it is today. He was a child when Russia8217;s economy fell apart with the Soviet Union. His mother, a teacher, did not get her salary for nearly a year. The family lived on cucumbers and potatoes.

Now, Moscow, flush with oil money, is dotted with trendy new cafes like MuMu, where he is the manager. He cannot find enough waiters because unemployment is so low. 8220;Russia is rising,8221; he said.

Nearly everyone interviewed believed the Kremlin version of events as presented on the state-controlled media: that Georgian troops rampaged through the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, and killed as many as 2,000 people, that Russia was obliged to go in to prevent further atrocities. And that the people of South Ossetia, who traditionally have closer ties to Russia than to Georgia and in recent years were given Russian passports, are Russian citizens.

Human Rights Watch has only been able to confirm 44 deaths so far in Tskhinvali. Access to the area has been tightly controlled by the Russians and no full, independent assessment has been possible. And Georgia argues that Russia handed out the passports as a pretext for annexation of the territory.

Some Russians expressed complex feelings about the war. Yekaterina Levchenko, 27, who brought bars of children8217;s soap to the cultural centre, began to cry when asked what might come of the war. 8220;God forbid there will be World War Three,8221; she said. 8220;What if my husband has to go?8221;

Others felt a dash of regret that things had come to this: invading Georgia. Still others worried that the West8217;s disapproval could gut the very economic recovery that has made Russia so confident. Climbing onto his racing motorbike as he left the Coffee Mania cafeacute; early Thursday morning, Oleg Baikov, a stockbroker, rolled his eyes when asked if the war had raised Russia8217;s international standing. He said he sat helplessly watching his portfolio crash as the world was crying, 8220;Look at Russia, invading the poor little republic.8221;

8220;We8217;re losing more than we8217;re gaining,8221; he said. 8220;But we had no other choice.8221;

Inside the cafe, four women, carefully coiffed and wearing stilettos for an evening of carpaccio and 20 cocktails, argued into the night about South Ossetia.

8220;Russia is acting like an empire,8221; said one woman, who was once married to a Georgian.