But that seems to be a different point to the one you made at first. Making it seem as though Russia is at war so that Putin can build a palace doesn't seem accurate.

That was not in any way the point I made. I merely called out Putin's squandering of public funds (for his own personal interest) to contrast against western squandering of public funds.

Russia is not at war to glorify Putin.

It's in Putin's political benefit:

Although, his estimation does seem to be rising in the eyes of the global south

As you have described.

Again, the point you replied to seemed to be talking about indebting Dutch and Danish taxpayers to pay for a war they're not part of. Russia is at war, so it would make sense that Russians will be taxed

Russia is only at war because Russia started a war. A war that the Russian people had no say - hell, they had no idea - in starting.

But in response to your reply: in general, Russians have very little choice because Russia was forced into a corner by NATO.

This is a false narrative. Russia did not have to start a war. There is no excuse here.

I'm not sure what you mean by outdated equipment. Outdated by whose standards?

Outdated by Russian standards. I think anyone would consider WW2 weapons and expired rations to be outdated.