Let’s put things in order in key terms and meanings, otherwise even knowledgeable, it seems, people in some places have a “fog of war” in their heads.
Ukraine was attacked not by “Russians”, but by citizens of Russia. These can be Tuvans, Chechens, Russians, Germans, Jews, Karelians, Bashkirs and anyone with a Russian passport. For example, Shoigu, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, is an ethnic Tuvan. Is Kadyrov a Russian or a Chechen? Speak correctly: “Russians”, “Russians”, not “Russians”. Foreigners, use the term russians instead of russians.
An abstract ethnos or citizenship cannot attack anyone. It’s like “mammal” is a general term. They made the decision to invade, prepared it and carried out the orders of completely certain people, a list of which can be compiled by name. This is more than “six thousand” FBK, but not all 100+ million citizens. Probably about a million names, including cannon fodder, and I simply followed orders, but no more than two. Even if the list is expanded to include all those who do not take a direct part in the war, but consciously work to nurture Putin’s fascism, the number is unlikely to exceed 5 million.
Now it is fashionable to cancel everything “Russian”, because “the Russians attacked”. At the same time, belonging to the “Russians” is determined by the presence of Russian citizenship, and Putin’s functionaries with dual citizenship or a foreign residence permit immediately fall out of this scheme, continuing to freely ride around the world and do business. On the other hand, among the media personalities and “businessmen” with Russian citizenship who fled Russia, there are a lot of frank collaborators who helped Putin build a dictatorship, and on February 24, 2022, for some reason it became uncomfortable for them to live here and they declared themselves opposition. A striking example is Chulpan Khamatova. She was Putin’s confidant in the presidential election, declared that “North Korea is better than the revolution,” and now in Europe she is portraying the victim.
The principle “let’s cancel everything Russian” is fundamentally erroneous and harmful . After all, how does the approach “all Russians are fascists” differ from “all Jews are second-class people”? Populism, “simple and final solutions to issues”, xenophobia are the components of fascism, including Hitler’s National Socialism. Those who want to “cancel everything Russian”, you are definitely fighting in that direction, are you sure?
Putin’s fascism is not what you are used to seeing in the newsreel of Hitler’s Germany with crowds of enthusiastic people in unison. In Russia, people are gathered for pro-government rallies for money or under duress. Propaganda all Putin’s 23 years worked for the non-participation of citizens in politics, for passivity. There is no fascist unity in Russia and not even close. Its appearance is created by propaganda in the conditions of the prohibition of any other opinion.
Putin could have switched to “traditional” fascism when propaganda managed to raise a wave of enthusiasm for “Krymnash” in 2014. Why didn’t this happen? Maybe because of opposition rallies against annexation, or he perfectly understood what the “loyalty of the masses” cultivated by propaganda is worth (nothing), or because the charisma of a bald moth and the absence of any ideology other than theft and retention of power is not what is needed to create traditional, not imitation fascist dictatorship. Or maybe all together.
Separate disparate conclusions
Ethnos without culture is a set of genetic markers. Russians as an ethnic group are in such a situation. The Soviet civilizational experiment to create a “new man”, the Red Terror and World War II almost completely destroyed Russian culture by deconstructing traditional elements, exterminating living carriers and forgetting “dangerous family histories”. The Soviet people actually disappeared in 1991. Now “Russian culture” is Orthodox rituals distorted by the Bolsheviks with pagan roots, the cult of Victory and other obscurantism, as well as “great Russian literature” that gathers dust on the shelves of libraries, never once in my life untouched by the average “Russian”. And all these elements do not connect anything. That is why the “Russian world”, “Russian culture” is so easily and actively used by Putin’s propaganda. These words can be filled with any meaning, because they have no meaning of their own.
Regional and national liberation movements should not formulate how they differ from the “Russians”, not talk about how they were oppressed by the “Russians”, but build revolutionary insurgent structures for the armed struggle against Putinism and the seizure of power in their territories. Now everything is going to the fact that we will all be beaten not in the face, but according to the passport, and the same reparations will be paid by Muscovites, and Karelians, and Bashkirs and everyone else equally. The situation can still be changed.
“Russians who have left” can and should be given asylum, supported and stimulated in their struggle to return to Russia and seize power. The countries of Europe and Ukraine (especially Ukraine) should introduce a special “anti-Putin” visa and issue it to those Russian citizens who leave the country for the purpose of temporary evacuation and the continuation of an armed struggle for power in Russia.
