As far as "Life without fast internet":
"Residents adjusted. They created an intracity computer network that, among other things, allowed locals to download pirated movies and TV shows without connecting to the wider web. Going on vacation, several said, meant sitting in a hotel room, updating smartphone apps and taking in the bounties of the online world, even if the beach beckoned."
[1] https://www.wired.com/2017/07/inside-cubas-diy-internet-revo...
I think of Russians as being active participants on the Internet; I would have thought that this would keep a bit of a lid on single-point-of-view propaganda. (Obviously there's plenty of misinformation on the internet, but it's not all from a single political view)
Why is Russia pushing so hard to spread Internet access in such a situation?
The country is in a state of disarray, where the oligarchs are getting hit with sanctions, oil sales are dwindling, and the only way to maintain the status quo is to keep the public focused on an outside enemy, which currently is Ukraine.
I don't know why they would expand access, but they might just use it to feed the populace more propaganda.
Paraphrasing your post, I could also say US mainstream media is indirectly state-controlled, and independent journalists are fired or discredited for speaking out against the current regime.
I really hope we all could move ahead of this Cold-War mentality, that puts the whole world in danger of a nuclear holocaust.
The authorities fully recognize the utility value of it, in terms of productivity, communication and economy broadly.
So in line with that they're simultaneously crafting the beginnings of Russia's version of the Chinese firewall (some have taken to calling it Runet for short; Runet used to be a more generic term referring to sites primarily popular with Russians):
"Putin signs law to create an independent Russian internet"
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/01/europe/vladimir-putin-russian...
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/05/putin-signs-bill...
What they actually doing is making sure that their internal internet based infrastructure does not depend on what POTUS de jour feel like. Russia once had been threatened to be cut off from the Visa and other financial services and that had led them to create their own payment system. After the lesson like this one has to be the ultimate fool to leave one of the most important infrastructure to be controlled by foreign entities.
Trying to spin it as Russia vs democracy is just a propaganda on it's own.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation about Russia as well. Practically, 99% of all articles are negative in one way or another. The same happens with China. It used to be the same about Japan in the 80ies. People tend to think that they are able to properly assess inputs but they can't, they consume what is given and praise their masters in a highly predictable manner.
By contrast, 33% is nearly as high as in France and Italy and is far higher than in Spain. Obviously it's false.
Only 3% of Russians are fluent in English. Only 5% spoke English as of the 2010 census. Even that is probably a stretch, as it's just a result of listing languages people claimed to know (which says nothing of the true capability). If we were generous to the last decade of English adoption, it's likely still well under 10% that speak it at all. You can also see this in action in Eastern Ukraine and Belarus, where English adoption is extremely low compared to most of Europe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-s...
http://www.bbc.com/culture/gallery/20190321-norilsk-the-city...
Taken over seven months in 2012 to 2013 as part of her Days of Night/Nights of Day project, Russian photographer Elena Chernyshova’s images reveal what it’s like to live in one of the world’s most isolated cities. In Norilsk, winter lasts nine months – and during the polar night the sun doesn’t rise for two months.
One of the roads in the city is on Google Street View
https://goo.gl/maps/LrzbFMFLuUvY7sdJ8
edit: And all the way along the street, you see 4 people in Google-coloured red/green/yellow/blue snowsuits. haha https://goo.gl/maps/Z1dFVZBF9fHV1enk7
I guess you was downvoted for that phrase which can't be true /s
[0] For example, grani.ru had to move to graniru.org several years ago, which was then blocked by most ISPs in Russia due to a government order:
One of the more interesting things I took from the trip.