Less than 10% of Russians live in Moscow, which is by far Russia's most liberal and Westernized city. The uncomfortable fact which progressives around the world seem to be having trouble with is that on average, most Russians absolutely do support the war and do see my family's home-country, Ukraine, as being a rightful part of Russia.
It probably won't change your mind, but here is a pretty transparent poll on a mix of Russians at a train station in Moscow (to capture some from outside the metropolises). The multi hour poll is a continuous video to show lack of selection bias (parts with no speech are fast forwarded)
https://youtu.be/eNwe24PlPTQ
About half the Russians don't support the war. I hope the conflict ends soon.
Lack of selection bias would be selecting according to demography distribution. Looks like this sample has young people way overrepresented, by clikcing through a video. And young people support the war slightly less.
I think you get your opinions of rural Americans from fiction, because I've lived among rural people most of my life and met only one or two people who think that way, about the same frequency as people in cities. Art imitates life when that doesn't get in the way of emotional drama.
I think the number of rural Americans who truly and earnestly wish death upon Black Americans is an absolutely tiny minority compared to the amount of rural Russians who support the invasion of Ukraine.
I don't think your comparison really says anything interesting, apart from your bias against rural Americans.
