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Template:Discrimination2 Anti-Russian sentiment is a broad term for a wide spectrum of dislike or fear of Russia, Russians, Russian culture or politics of Russia.

The controversial term Russophobia is also used in some contexts: in ethnic conflicts involving Russians, and in international politics. "Russophobic" and "anti-Russian" are common adjectives used to denote negative sentiments towards Russia in politics and literature.

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.

The history of the long and bitter Russo-Polish rivalry for the lands of the ancient Kievan Rus, as well as the loss of Polish independence contributed to the broad Russophobia throughout Polish society. For example, some 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. 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 Pan-Slavism) 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.

"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)

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 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.

Recently, some see injustice in a reports of discrimination and violence against a non-Russian minority groups and foreigners, as presenting Russia and Russian people in general to be intolerant and racist.

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 coreligionists. 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 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 resentiments 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.

It is also important to remember that the Northern Caucasus was not the only place where anti-Russian sentiment is found. During the 1990s nationalist movements in the Russia's minority areas displayed a prominent russophobic character.

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 exactly 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 was 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". The percentage of respondents expressing a positive attitude towards Russia was 9% in Finland, Turkey, and Japan, 38% in Lithuania, 36% in Latvia, and 34% in Estonia. Approximately 20% of the residents of Western Europe viewed Russia positively, with the most positive view coming from Iceland, Greece, and Britain. Overall, the percentage of respondents with a positive view of Russia was only 31%.

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, 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.

Austria

In February 2007, a group of hotel owners in the Austrian resort of Kitzbühel announced that no more than 10% of rooms in their hotel would be filled by Russians at one time. The plan was justified with the claim that ...Kitzbühel wants to avoid becoming a Russian "stronghold"....

Azerbaijan

Many Azerbaijanis resent Russians because of Russia's support and solidarity with Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This further fueled by the tensions with Azerbaijani migrants in Moscow and other Russian cities.

Baltic States

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All the Baltic States consider their past adjoinment to the Soviet Union to be an act of occupation and hold Russia as successor of the Soviet Union responsible, something that Russia, in turn, refuses to acknowledge. 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 9 May will strip vobla on a newspaper, drink vodka and sing chastushki, whilst recalling how they heroically conquered the Baltic countries."

Estonia and Latvia denied automatic citizenship to Soviet-time migrants upon the break-up of 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, nonetheless it left a massive portion of Soviet-time migrants, the majority ethnic Russians without automatic citizenship and they have possibility to obtain citizenship through the naturalisation process, including passing language test. Some Russians see this as an act of discrimination and even apartheid claiming that non-citizens are severely restricted in their basic rights. In addition, several bills, at times were directed against the Russian minority, including a law that was passed in 2004 that restricted the teaching in Russian language in Russian schools to only 40% of the curriculum time, despite thousands of public protests.

Georgia

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.

Ukraine

The overall Russian sentiment in Ukraine varies geographically throughout the country. Many western Ukrainians, see the future of their country as distantly as possible from Russia, and strongly oppose the possible introduction of Russian as a state language next to the Ukrainian language, and in turn support the controversial ex-UPA fighters gaining veteran status. However many Ukrainian citizens, particularly in the east and south, have a different opinion and would like to a see a more russophile attitude of Kiev, ranging from closer economic partnership to full national union.

Turkmenistan

The Turkmen government's decision to cancel a dual-citizenship agreement with Russia in 2003 made thousands of ethnic Russians to leave Turkmenistan, or to face losing property. Many of those fleeing "in panic" 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 the 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 the Russian newspapers were banned earlier.

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 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 you're 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

Footnotes

1. After Centuries of Enmity, Relations Between Poland and Russia Are as Bad as Ever", New York Times, July 3, 2005 (subscription may be required for full text)
2. Политика геноцида, Государственный мемориальный комплекс «Хатынь»
3. UK students fear Russian racists, by BBC 26 November 2005
4. http://www.politicalreviewnet.com/polrev/reviews/MISR/R_1521_9488_003_20157.asp
5. Soviet Census 1989, Chechno-Ingushetian ASSR, Demoscope.ru
6. Sokolov-Mitrich, Dmitryi. "Забытый геноцид". Izvestia. Retrieved on 2002, 7-17.
7. Slave of the Caucasus. BBC. Retrieved on 2002, 7-16
8. Citizenship bill becomes law, by RFE/RL Newsline 4 June 2002
9. Helsingin Sanomat, October 11, 2004, International poll: Anti-Russian sentiment runs very strong in Finland. Only Kosovo has more negative attitude
10. "The west's new Russophobia is hypocritical - and wrong", The Guardian, June 30, 2006
11. No room at the plush Austrian inn for Russians and their roubles by Guardian
12. Declaration on condemnation of the totalitarian communist occupation regime implemented in Latvia by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, adopted by the Latvian Saeima on 12 May 2005
13. http://compromat.ru/main/latvia/a.htm Compromat.ru, 2 February 2005
14. The policy of discrimination of the national minorities in Latvia and Estonia - Retrieved on February 4
15. Komsomolskaya Pravda - Hands off Russian Schools - Retrieved on 4 February 2007
16. Patrick J. Buchanan, Georgia – on Moscow's mind, WorldNetDaily Commentary, October 24, 2006
17. Yedinoye Otechestvo - United country
18. Turkmenistan: Focus on ethnic minorities, by IRIN News.org 18 August 2005
19. Russians 'flee' Turkmenistan, by BBC 20 June 2003
20. Turkmenistan: Russian Students Targetedby the Institute for War and Peace Reporting16 July 2003
21. Turkmenistan: OSCE Visit Briefly Highlights Plight Of Minorities, by RFE/RL's Turkmen Service 8 March 2006
22. Assessment for Russians in Turkmenistan, by the Center for International Development and Conflict Management
23. Как закалялась "Северсталь", by Izvestija 26 June 2006
24. Председатель Госдумы Борис Грызлов, комментируя пропагандистскую кампанию против слияния российской "Северстали" и европейской "Arcelor", заявил, что Россию не хотят пускать на мировые рынки, by Rossiiskaya Gazeta 27 June 2006
25. Russian Politicians See Russophobia in Arcelor's Decision to Go With Mittal Steel, by the New York Times 27 July 2006
26. Rebel investors gear up to sink Russian takeover of Arcelor, by The Observer 18 June 2006

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

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