For example when he decides to nuke Ukraine because he can’t conquer it, he must have the Russian population convinced it was because of defending/retribution for a nuclear attack by the west. The only way to do that is to minimize information coming from outside.

Look at random interviews with Russian people on the countryside and some in the cities, they are deeply brainwashed and indoctrinated from only hearing state messaging about how the west is outright evil.

No, this bullshit about “minimizing information coming from outside” is because you think Russians have propaganda and you don’t have propaganda.

This is always wrong, in any place and time. You have different propaganda than Russians, and seeing that difference from interviews and such the conclusion you get is that they are brainwashed and thus decide “not to revolt”, while you are able to see clearly, this is bullshit even when so vaguely described, in fact they “can’t revolt” because any attempt will be prevented before anyone hears of it. Looks can be deceiving.

You are also, in fact, “unable to revolt”, you just 1) think that you don’t need to, so did Russians during his first two terms, 2) don’t look too closely at your ability to do that, it’s easy to say you can always do something you never do, well, prove you can first, 3) are treated differently at this point, because you are in a different place in this system which includes Russia and the West, interconnected well enough.

The West is outright evil for a Russian for many reasons, starting with helping to build Yeltsin’s and Putin’s regime and approving of Putin’s reelections when there were widespread protests in Russia.

It’s not about information from the outside, it’s about information from the inside to the inside, and a bit about information from the inside to the outside, if there are going to be really bad things.