Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 11:54, 14 February 2006

Russophobia is a dislike or fear of Russia, Russians or Russian culture. Russophobia is the opposite of Russophilia.

The term is used in two basic contexts: in ethnic conflicts involving Russians, and in international politics.

Politics

Dislike of Russians, which is sometimes described as Russophobia, is sometimes a backlash of the policy of Russification in the times of Imperial Russia and Soviet Union and, in some non-Russian parts of the Russian Federation (e.g. Chechnya), 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 major powers in Europe.

"Partition of Russia is fundamental for our policy in the East. Our position will depend on who will take part in that partition. Poland shouldn't stand aside in this remarkable moment of history. Our task is to prepare ourselves both morally and materially. Our principal aim is weakening and defeat of Russia" (report of the Polish General Staff, 1938, «Z dziejów stosunków polsko-radzieckich. Studia i materiały», T.III. Warszawa, 1968, S. 262, 287.).

Many people believe that the history of the long Russo-Polish rivalry for the heritage of the ancient Kievan Rus which ended unsuccessfully for Poland, as well as the loss of Polish imperial status contributed to the broad Russophobia throughout Polish society. In the 18th century, when Poland was not yet partitioned, Catherine the Great was known for her words: "The Polish people hate us so deeply, that there is no other way out for us and our security, than to subordinate and to control them". Some people attribute russophobic motivation to the concept of Prometheism, brought by Polish chief of state Józef Piłsudski or even rhetoric of Zbigniew Brzezinski to manifest of these sentiments.

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. 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 it was obvious by the decisive Russian action during of the Hungarian uprising of 1849, a wave of fear and anger towards growing Slavic national consciousness (see panslavism) and eastern orientation of many of its Slavic constituents hit Austria-Hungary in the second half of the 19th century. The Austro-Hungarian elite started to see Russia and Russians as the main enemy and the initiator of its potential collapse. The public opinion became more and more radicalized and Russophobic, the common anti-Russian stereotypes fell not only on a fertile ground, but became also manifolded using a pseudo-scientific framework.

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.

The Red Scare in the United States, the Cold War, and the associated negative portrayal of "Russkies" in cinema and fiction significantly contributed to Russophobia among Americans.

The history of the influence or direct control of the USSR over Eastern Europen countries may have fed the Russophobia there. Some people of Eastern Europe blame the repression during the Stalin era and economical stagnation afterwords on the local Russian population. That, according to some Russian media reports causes violations of the human rights of the Russian minorities residing in those countries.

On the individual level 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 mater are highly subjective and may vary a great deal between different historians.

Religious aspects

Russophobia is closely connected with religious aspects. In the centuries following the East-West Schism of 1054, the Roman Catholic Church led several efforts aimed at gaining control of East European territory and converting its inhabitants into Catholicism (see, for example, the Northern Crusades of the Teutonic Knights or Polonization ). Orthodox Christians were vilified as heathens and heretics, and Orthodoxy itself labeled backwards and barbarian.

During the Cold War, the "godless (Russian) communist" figured heavily in American propaganda, so much that the Pledge of Allegiance of the US was changed to include "Under God" in order to distinguish America with the atheist Soviet Union.

== Examples of Russophobia ==

Caucasus

Persecution and ethnic cleansing of ethnic Russians in the Caucasus has been going on for almost 2 decades now. Recently, terrorist attacks by armed gunmen against Orthodox priests, Protestant ministers, and foreign workers have caused further tension in the minority Orthodox and Protestant Christian community. Russian and other "foreign" Christian groups have either left the region or been advised by Russian Baptist Union to do so.

Ethnic Cleansing of Russians

From 1991 to 1994, as many as 300,000 people of non-Chechen ethnicity (mostly Russians) fled Chechnya, and an unknown number (some estimate as high as 50,000) were murdered or disappeared (). At this time, the slave trade also re-emerged in Chechnya (the earliest known person taken as a Chechen slave, Vladimir Yepishin, was kidnapped in 1989 and released in 2002, and claims to have come in contact with other slaves kidnapped by Chechens in the mid-80s ). .

The facts of genocide of Russian population have been carefully avoided by journalists in mass media and by scientific circles, from what appears to be fear of physical elimination by the perpetrators of genocide. Hence, only personal accounts on various non-official websites offer a glimpse into the matter. At the same time reports of hooligan attacks against non-Russians in Russia are widely picked up and analyzed often with an attempt to paint Russia and Russian people as intolerant and racist.

==International==

"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, )

"Russophobia" and "Russophobic" are the terms used to denote anti-Russian sentiments in politics and literature.

In modern international politics this term is also used more specifically to describe cliches and outdated attitudes towards modern Russia preserved from the times of the Cold War. Many prejudices, whether justified or simply introduced as elements of political war against the Soviet Union, are still observed in the discussions of the relations with Russia.

See also

• Anti-Slavism
• Serbophobia

References

• 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, available online.
• 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

• Anti-national sentiment
• Foreign relations of Russia
• Russian society