Anti-Russian sentiment

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The Nazi inscription reads: "The Russian must die so that we may live" (1941)

Template:Discrimination2 Anti-Russian sentiment covers a wide spectrum of dislikes or fears of Russia, Russians, or Russian culture, including Russophobia. In modern international politics the term "Russophobia" is also used more specifically to describe clichés preserved from the times of the Cold War. Many prejudices, often introduced as elements of political war against the Soviet Union, are still observed in the discussions of the relations with Russia.

History

Dislike of Russians is sometimes a backlash of the policy of Russification in the times of Imperial Russia and Soviet Union and, a backlash of the policies of modern Russian government. However, some authors assert that Russophobia has a long tradition and already existed many centuries before Russia became one of the major powers in Europe.

Some even find Russophobic motivations in the concept of Prometheism, brought by Polish chief of state Józef Piłsudski.

During the 19th century the competition with Russia for the spheres of influence and colonies (see e.g. The Great Game and Berlin Congress) was a possible reason for the Russophobia in Great Britain where British propaganda of the time portrayed Russians as uncultivated Asiatic barbarians. These views spread to other parts of the world and are frequently reflected in literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Although Russia had no interest in the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, as confirmed by the decisive Russian action during of the Hungarian uprising of 1849, it promoted the idea of Pan-Slavism for its political purposes. This resulted in enmity of Austria-Hungary towards eastern orientation of many of its Slavic constituents in the second half of the 19th century. The elites began to see Russia as a threat and an enemy of Austro-Hungarian multi-ethnic empire. The public opinion became even more radicalised and Russophobic, as the common anti-Russian stereotypes fell onto a fertile ground.

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler attempted to strengthen the Russophobe stereotypes with his racial theory of subhumans, in part to rationalize and justify the German invasion of Russia and the atrocities committed against its populace.

"Need, hunger, lack of comfort have been a lot of Russians for centuries. No false compassion, as their stomaches are perfectly extensible. Don't try to impose the German standards and to change their style of life. Their only wish is to be ruled by the Germans. Help yourselves, and the God will help you!" ("12 precepts for the German officer in the East", 1941)

The history of the domination or direct control of the USSR over Eastern European countries has often contributed to Russophobia there. Some people of Eastern Europe blame the repression during the Stalin era and economy stagnation afterwards on Russians in general and often on the local Russian population. That, according to the multiple decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, causes violations of the human rights of the Russian minorities residing in those countries.

It is difficult to draw a distinction from a casual xenophobia, observable for any two peoples living side by side or even intermixed and historically involved in armed conflicts. Also it might not be always easy to separate actions unpopular in Russia caused by rational political concerns of its neighbors from the actions caused by an irrational Russophobia. The opinions on these matters are highly subjective and may vary a great deal between different historians.

Religious aspects

One of the sources of alleged Russophobia in the West is associated with religious aspects. The Roman Catholic Church has led a number of efforts aimed at gaining control of East European territory and converting its inhabitants to Roman Catholicism for many centuries since the East-West Schism (1054) (see the Northern Crusades of the Teutonic Knights and Polonization for example). Eastern Orthodox Christians were sometimes vilified as heathens and heretics, and Orthodoxy itself labeled backwards and barbarian. In fact, Constantinople, the seat of Christian Orthodoxy, was mercilessly sacked by fellow Christians, soldiers of the Fourth Crusade on April 13, 1204. The legacy of the Fourth Crusade was the deep sense of betrayal the Latins had instilled in their Greek co-religionists. With the events of 1204, the schism between the Catholic West and Orthodox East was complete. As an epilogue to the event, Pope Innocent III, the man who had launched the expedition, thundered against the crusaders thus: "You vowed to liberate the Holy Land but you rashly turned away from the purity of your vow when you took up arms not against Saracens but Christians… The Greek Church has seen in the Latins nothing other than an example of affliction and the works of Hell, so that now it rightly detests them more than dogs".

Anti-Orthodox attitudes are still prevalent today among some believers of the Our Lady of Fatima miracle of 1917, according to which an apparition of the Virgin Mary instructed: "If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated."

Northern Caucasus

Russophobia in the North Caucasus traces its roots to the 17th century when the Terek Cossacks first came in contact with the local natives, followed by the prolonged conquest of the region by the Russian Empire during the 19th century and then the Stalinist deportations of the indigenous peoples. However in the late 20th century, with the collapse of Russian authority, the Russophobia resulted in incidents of persecution and ethnic cleansing of against the ethnic Russian population.

Worst affected was the Russian minority of Chechnya: in the 1989 census, the Russians accounted for approximately a quarter of the population, and from 1989 to 1994, as many as 300,000 people of non-Chechen ethnicity (mostly Russians, but also a notable Armenian and Ukrainian minority) were forcefully evicted from Chechnya, and an unknown number were murdered or disappeared. Many were also kidnapped, and even slave-trade was reported (the earliest known example was Vladimir Yepishin held since 1989).

It is however difficult to say which of the acts of murder or kidnapping were examples of Russophobia and which were cases of crimes with no ideological background. Some observers also argue that most of anti-Russian sentiments should be seen in the wider context of the Chechen conflict, at the same time there has been a general emigration from all the North Caucasus republics, although none have shown such a drastic drop in the ethnic Russian population as do figures for Chechnya and neighbouring Ingushetia.

At the same time, the approach to the ethnic Russian problem by the North Caucasus republics is indeed very different. The official Republic of Chechnya chooses to bypass the question altogether. However, the neighbouring Republic of Ingushetia, has a completely different approach. The impoverished republic actively encouraged people to return and help rebuild the infrastructure damaged by the Ossetian-Ingush conflict in 1992 and more than a decade of disrepair. However, as the security situation remains tight, so far little progress took place; on June 9 2006 Galina Gubina, Ingushetian administrator in charge of a programme to encourage the return of ethnic Russians, died after she was attacked by a group of armed men.

Attitude towards Russia and Russians by countries

The attitude towards Russia and Russians in many former Soviet countries remains negative. Political blocks such as GUAM were created to limit Russian influence in the ex-Soviet republics. Experts estimate that more than 4 million ethnic Russians have immigrated to Russia from other former Soviet republics in 1990s.

In the October of 2004, the International Gallup Organization announced that according to its poll, anti-Russian sentiment remained fairly strong throughout Europe and the West in general. It found that Russia was the least popular G-8 country globally. The percentage of population with a negative perception of Russia was 62% in Finland, 42% in the Czech Republic and Switzerland, 37% in Germany, 32% in Denmark and Poland, 23% in Estonia. However, according to the poll, the people of Kosovo had the lowest opinion of Russia: 73% of Kosovar respondents said their opinion was "very negative" or "fairly negative". Overall, the percentage of respondents with a positive view of Russia was only 31%.

Azerbaijan

Many Azerbaijanis resent Russians because of Russia's support for Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This further fueled by the systematic persecution of Caucasus-originated migrants in Moscow and other Russian cities.[1], [2], [3], [4]

Baltic States

Main article: Baltic Russians

All Baltic States consider their past annexation by the Soviet Union to be an act of illegal occupation, while the Russian government considers it to have been neither illegal nor an occupation.

The consequences of World War II for the Baltic countries has been a very controversial issue and one that remains a high point in the society of the Baltic states. It could be summarised by the Latvian president Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, who, in a televised interview, when questioned about the Soviet World War II veterans, remarked: "Of course we cannot change the opinion of those elderly Russians, who on May 9 [(see Victory in Europe Day#Red Army and Eastern Europe)] will strip vobla on a newspaper, drink vodka and sing chastushki, whilst recalling how they heroically conquered the Baltic countries."

On September 30, 2004 the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation published a report, which contended, that Russia, as the legal successor to the Soviet Union, is entitled to compensation for having vacated the three Baltic states. The compensation claim extend to military property that remained there after Russian troops withdrew. In turn, Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus claimed conversely that "we can submit claims for the broken lives, the destroyed state, the material losses we suffered . . . . If anyone were to make compensation claims, it would be us presenting a bill for the entire occupation period." The compensation claims were also discussed in Latvia, however, no claims are presented.

Estonia and Latvia denied automatic citizenship to Soviet-time migrants upon the break-up of the Soviet Union and restoring their independence. They passed citizenship laws on the basis of legal continuity of statehood of the Baltic States, thus granting automatic acquisition of citizenship only according to the principle of jus sanguinis for the persons who held citizenship before 16 June 1940 and their descendants. Although this included several minorities, it left a great number of Soviet-time migrants, mostly ethnic Russians, without automatic citizenship. Such immigrants generally can naturalise, though, provided they pass tests on important republic laws and local language. Some Russians see this as an act of discrimination, likening it to apartheid. Several bills viewed as unfavourable to the ethnic Russian minority passed in Latvia, including a 2004 law restricting the teaching in Russian language in Russian-language state-funded schools to only 40% of the curriculum time, despite wide public protests.

Georgia

Main article: Georgian-Russian relations

Many Georgians see the Russian government as the ultimate culprit behind the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict‎ and the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, where Russians, albeit indirectly, backed the separatist regimes. In this case frequent scandals have arisen at the international level. Recently this attitude towards Russians was further fueled in 2006 after Russia broke diplomatic relations with Georgia and started deporting Georgian citizens. On 27 March 2007, Georgia filed an interstate lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights over the alleged cases of violations of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the course of the deportation of Georgian citizens from Russia in autumn of 2006. Russia described this as a "new unfriendly step taken against Russia".

Poland

Russian officials have said that bad feelings toward Russia are widespread in Poland. According to Boris Makarenko, deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies, a Moscow-based think tank, anti-Russian sentiments have existed in Poland for more than 200 years. He said that much of the anti-Russian feelings in Poland is caused by grievances of the past. The most contentious issue is the massacre of 22,000 Polish officers, priests and intellectuals in Katyn Forest in 1940.

The New York Times reported that Gleb Pavlovsky, an adviser to Putin, complained during his visit to Warsaw that "Poles talk about Russians the way anti-Semites talk about Jews."

Jakub Boratynski, director of international programs at the independent Polish think tank Stefan Batory Foundation, said that anti-Russian feelings have substantially decreased since Poland joined the EU and NATO, and that Poles feel more safe than before, but he also admitted that many people in Poland still look suspiciously at Russian foreign-policy moves and are afraid Russia is seeking to "recreate an empire in a different form."

Ukraine

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Modern Anti-Russian poster in Lviv, Western Ukraine. The Ukrainian text reads: "Remember! Profanity turns you into a Moskal. In Russia, they do not use profanity for cursing, they use profanity for speaking." The usage of the term Moskal in Ukraine in modern context is an ethnic slur referring to the Russians in general. The poster was issued by a marginal political party "SVOBODA", that gained only 0.36% of electoral support in the last elections.

According to a long-term survey by Institute of Sociology of National Academy of Science of Ukraine, the overall population of the country, excluding the Ukrainians from diaspora, has a similar attitude towards Russians as towards ethnic Ukrainians. On the other hand, the 2000 survey of the Lviv Oblast showed that the population of the region has a more negative attitude towards Russia (20%) (cf. 23% of negative attitude towards Ukraine in Russia ) and Belarus (12%) than to other countries. Another survey showed that in 2005, compared to the rest of the population, the the population of Western Ukraine, Kiev and Kiev Oblast had a less positive attitude towards Russia.

Vandalized house of Russian Cultural Center in Lviv

After Viktor Yanukovych in the 2004 presidential campaign promised to make Russian an official language of Ukraine, a group of twelve Ukrainophone writers supporting Viktor Yushchenko wrote an open letter claiming that "Yanukovych promises to give the language of low-standard pop music and thieves' cant the absurd status of a 'second official language'". Later, one of the writers explained that the phrase "the language of low-standard pop music and thieves' cant" does not refer to Russian language, but rather to the slang spoken by "a certain political force". He also pointed out that they were trying to defend the rights of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine to have a "true Russian culture". However, Yanukovych never mentioned any intentions to give official status to thieves' cant, so the clarification does not explain the initial statement. Viktor Yushchenko expressed his gratitude and respect to this group of writers.

According to the Kiev Institute of Sociological Research and Conflictology, whose director Mykhailo Pohrebynskyi supported Viktor Yanukovych during the presidential elections in 2004, "Our Ukraine", "Yulia Tymoshenko Electoral Bloc", and other Ukrainian right-wing parties (i.e. the rivals of Yanukovych's Party of Regions) struggle for the support of "anti-Russian attitude" voters.

At the same time some Ukrainian citizens, mostly in the East and South of the country, would like to a see a more Russophile attitude of the government, ranging from closer economic partnership to full national union.

Turkmenistan

Main article: Human rights in Turkmenistan

The Turkmen government's decision to cancel a dual-citizenship agreement with Russia in 2003 caused thousands of ethnic Russians to leave Turkmenistan, or to face losing property. Many of those fleeing reportedly feared being trapped in a state which has been widely criticised for human rights abuses and has imposed severe restrictions on foreign travel for its citizens. According to reports, those who did get out, were regarded as "lucky". Those without Russian passports may be forced to become Turkmens, and fear that they may never be able to come back to Russia again.

For these who remained, estimated at around 100,000, all Soviet-time diplomas, certificates and other official documents that were issued outside the Turkmen SSR had their status nullified, effectively limiting drastically the people's access to work. At the same time, universities have been encouraged to reject applicants with non-Turkmen surnames, especially ethnic Russians. Russian television is difficult to receive in Turkmenistan, the Russian-language radio station Mayak was taken off the air and Russian newspapers were banned earlier.

United Kingdom

An estimated 400,000 Russians live in the United Kingdom and over 170,000 Russian tourists visit the country every year. In a July, 2007 interview with The Sunday Times, the Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Yuri Fedotov, accused the British police of treating Russian nationals like the mafia. He said he can "quote examples where Russians were beaten by youngsters in London. Tourists, visitors, businessmen. They were severely beaten and and the police did not open any investigation on these particular incidents." At the same time, according to Yuri Fedotov, offences committed by Russians were dealt with swiftly and disproportionately. He also complained that some Russians are being refused service in shops, restaurants, and taxis. He said that concerns about the developing Russophobia had been raised with senior figures in the British government.

United States

Most anti-Russian attitudes in the United States and in American media had almost chiefly been as a result of the Cold War, expectations of a nuclear war with Soviet Union, and the conflation of the Soviet Union with Russia, as expressed in the phrase "The Russians are coming".

While Russophobia was prevalent in the United States during much of the Cold War, it was argued that it may have been at its hottest after the shootdown of KAL 007 and the death of 63 Americans at the hands of a Soviet fighter pilot. While South Korea had led most anti-Soviet protests in the wake of the shootdown, some protests were seen in the US as well with some Americans picketing holding signs reading "FUCK USSR" or "Kill Yuri Andropov", and later criticized President Ronald Reagan for being too forgiving to the Soviets about the affair. Many films and TV shows had played out this attitude, such as Red Dawn, Rocky IV, Red Scorpion, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III and Amerika. American media had either sought to portray Soviet government officials as bent on world communism, and the Soviet military as soulless brutes seeking to kill anything and anyone that was non-communist.

In the mid of 2006, the State Department of the United States cancelled Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska’s multiple-entry visa claiming that Oleg Deripaska wasn't being candid with them about his past business dealings. The visa cancellation occurred in the United States amid rising concerns and calls for counter efforts about Russian businessmen and companies attempts to enhance their economic and political clout in the West.

Business

In May and June 2006, Russian media cited discrimination against Russian companies as one possible reason why the contemplated merger between the Luxembourg-based steelmaker Arcelor and Russia's Severstal did not finalize. According to the Russian daily Izvestiya, those opposing the merge "exploited the 'Russian threat' myth during negotiations with shareholders and, apparently, found common ground with the Europeans", while Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the State Duma observed that "recent events show that someone does not want to allow us to enter their markets." On 27 July 2006, the New York Times quoted the analysts as saying that many Western investors still think that anything to do with Russia is "a little bit doubtful and dubious" while others look at Russia in "comic book terms, as mysterious and mafya-run."

However, the same article also quoted Aleksandr Temerko, a former vice president of YUKOS, the company which was broken up and sold off by the Russian government, saying that Western investors should treat take-overs by Russian companies with suspicion: "What if tomorrow they decide to grab Mordashov [the oligarch in charge of Severstal] and force him to sell his stock to a state company?... Then some K.G.B. agent will show up at Arcelor and say, 'I'm your new partner'.... Political motives are real; they exist.... Investors are right to fear them." Arcelor shareholders themselves portrayed their doubts about Severstal's bid very differently, and completely unrelated to stereotypes of Russian business practice: they were worried about the manner in which the bid was being presented to them by the Arcelor management, who were in favour of the take-over, and the degree of personal control Mr. Mordashov would have over the new company.

See also

• List of anti-ethnic and anti-national terms
• Russophilia

References

• Template:Pl icon/Template:Ru icon ed. Jerzy Faryno, Roman Bobryk, "Polacy w oczach Rosjan - Rosjanie w oczach Polaków. Поляки глазами русских - русские глазами поляков. Zbiór studiów" - conference proceedings; in Studia Litteraria Polono-Slavica; Slawistyczny Ośrodek Wydawniczy Instytutu Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Warszawa 2000, ISBN 83-86619-93-7.

External links

• The Genesis of Russophobia in Great Britain
• Anatol Lieven, "Against Russophobia", World Policy Journal, Volume XVII, No 4, Winter 2000/01; a review of a modern Russophobia in international politics.
• New York Times After Centuries of Enmity, Relations Between Poland and Russia Are as Bad as Ever, July 3, 2005 (subscription may be required for full text)
• Sergei Yastrzhembsky: Russophobia Still Rampant
• More Russophobia in International Press
• Corruption, Russophobia Weigh on Poland
• Finnish Russophobia: The Story of an Enemy Image