Anti-Russian sentiment

Russophobia is a dislike or fear of Russia, Russians or Russian culture, also described by the term Anti-Russian sentiments. The term is used in two basic contexts: in ethnic conflicts involving Russians, and in international politics. "Russophobic" is an adjective used to denote anti-Russian sentiments in politics and literature.

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 people believe that 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 imperial status contributed to the broad Russophobia throughout Polish society. 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 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.^[2]

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

Worst affected was the Russian minority of Chechnya: in the 1989 census, the Russians accounted for approximately a quarter of the population. ^[3], 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.^[4] Many were also kidnapped, and even slave-trade was reported (the earliest known example was Vladimir Yepishin who spent more than 13 years in Chechen captivity from 1989).^[5]

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 neighbouring 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.

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). Orthodox Christians were sometimes vilified as heathens and heretics, and Orthodoxy itself labeled backwards and barbarian. ^{[citation needed]} 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." A more common interpretation of the prophecy is however that it was against communism and atheism spread by the Bolshevik revolution rather than against Orthodox Christianity.

In the October of 2004, the International Gallup Organization announced that according to its poll,^[6] 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 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. On a social level, modern Russophobia is often the dislike of Russia because of both the modern Russian imperialism and the historical associations with the Soviet Union.

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"^[7], 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."^[8] 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."Russian Politicians See Russophobia in Arcelor's Decision to Go With Mittal Steel, by the New York Times 27 July 2006</ref> 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 in highly questionable circumstances, 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 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.^[9]

On the whole attitude towards Russia and Russians in the 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.^[10]

Many Azerbaijanis resent Russians because of Russia's support and solidarity with Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Also because of the large ethnic minority that Azerbaijani labour immigrants make up in Moscow and other Russian cities, this attitude is often strengthened by racial attacks on these immigrants and general dislike of them by the ethnic Russian community.

All the Baltic States consider their past adjoinment to the Soviet Union to be Soviet occupation.^[11] This however has been so far not recognized by Russia. Although Lithuania granted citizenship to Soviet-time Russian migrants, Estonia and Latvia denied automatic citizenship of the immigrants upon restoring their independence. On the basis of legal continuity of statehood of the Baltic States, they adopted citizenship laws granting automatic acquisition of citizenship only according to the principle of jus sanguinis.

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.^[12] In this case frequent scandals have arisen at the international level. Recently this attitude towards Russians was further fueled after Russia broke diplomatic relations with Georgia and started deporting Georgian citizens.

See also: Georgian-Russian relations

In modern Turkmenistan, the authoritarian President Saparmurat Niyazov made several laws that literally made Russians second-rate citizens. The Turkmen government's decision to cancel a dual-citizenship agreement with Russia in 2003 led thousands of ethnic Russians to leave Turkmenistan, or to face losing property.^[13] 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 Turkmens and fear that they may never be able to come back to Russia again.^[14]

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 Russian people's access to work. At the same time, universities have been encouraged to reject applicants with non-Turkmen surnames, especially ethnic Russians. ^[15] Russian television is difficult to receive in Turkmenistan, the Russian-language radio station Mayak was taken off the air^[16] and Russian newspapers were banned earlier.^[17]

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

• 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.

• 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