
The "Russian world" () is a concept and a
political doctrine usually defined as the
sphere of military, political and cultural influence of
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
It is a vague term, mostly used to refer to communities with a historical, cultural, or spiritual tie to Russia.
This can include all
ethnic Russians
Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
and
Russian speakers in neighboring states, as well as those who belong to the
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
.
The concept of the "Russian world" is linked to
Russian neo-imperialism.
President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
established the government-funded
Russkiy Mir Foundation to foster the idea of the "Russian world" abroad. The concept is sometimes also called the ''Pax Russica'', as a counterweight to the ''
Pax Americana'' after
WWII
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
History
Philologist analyzed the
National Corpus of the Russian Language and established that the expression "Russian world" was used only sporadically before 1930s. Later the term started being used more frequently, as he wrote, "They seem to be characteristic of the romantic European nationalisms of that period when people within the same nation state (or longing for such a state, as was the case in Germany) started to look for a common identity based on ethnicity and culture. Similar concepts can be found in other languages, like ''
Deutschtum'' in German or ''Hispanidad'' in Spanish. Still later, up until
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
the term became a commonplace, mostly used as an apposition to other nations, "usually without any jingoism". After the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
the expression became nearly obsolete, only to resurface in
Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...
propaganda since the early 21st century.
Concept
The "Russian world" is a vaguely-defined term, mostly used to refer to communities with a historical, cultural, or spiritual tie to Russia.
This can include all
ethnic Russians
Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
and
Russian speakers in neighboring states, as well as those who belong to the
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
.
Its proponents believe Russia is a "
unique civilization" and a bastion of "
traditional values" and
national conservatism
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conserv ...
.
The "Russian world" idea is linked to
Russian neo-imperialism.
Jeffrey Mankoff of the Institute for National Strategic Studies says that the "Russian world" embodies "the idea of a Russian imperial nation transcending the Russian Federation's borders" and challenges "neighboring states' efforts to construct their own civic nations and disentangle their histories from Russia".
A number of observers see the "Russian world" concept as
revanchist, with the goal of restoring Russia's borders or its influence back to that of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire.
In the 1990s, Russian
neo-fascist philosopher
Aleksandr Dugin began writing about Russia as a unique
Eurasian civilization.
Dugin was later an adviser to Russian president
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
.
Other authors behind the development of the concept in post-Soviet Russia include , Yefim Ostrovsky,
Valery Tishkov, Vitaly Skrinnik, Tatyana Poloskova and
Natalya Narochnitskaya. In 2000, Shchedrovitsky presented the main ideas of the "Russian world" concept in the article "Russian World and Transnational Russian Characteristics", among the most important of which was the
Russian language
Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
.
Andis Kudors of the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, analyzing Shchedrovitsky's article, concludes that it follows ideas first laid out by the 18th century philosopher
Johann Gottfried Herder about the influence of language on thinking (which has become known as the principle of
linguistic relativity): those who speak Russian come to "think Russian", and eventually to "act Russian".
Observers describe the concept as a tool of Russian
soft power
In politics (and particularly in international politics), soft power is the ability to co-option, co-opt rather than coerce (in contrast with hard power). It involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. Soft power is ...
.
According to assistant editor Pavel Tikhomirov of , many Ukrainians see the "Russian world" as
neo-Sovietism under another name. The ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' described the "Russian world" as "Putin’s creation that fuses respect for Russia's Tsarist, Orthodox past with reverence for the Soviet defeat of fascism in the Second World War. This is epitomised in the
Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces, 40 miles west of Moscow, opened in 2020".
''The Economist'' says that the "Russian world" concept has become the basis of a crusade against the
West's "
liberal" culture and has fed a "new Russian cult of war". It says that
Putin's regime has debased the "Russian world" concept with a mixture of obscurantism, Orthodox dogma, anti-Western sentiment, nationalism,
conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
* ...
and security-state
Stalinism
Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
.
Russian government
Eventually, the idea of the "Russian world" was adopted by the Russian government under Vladimir Putin. In 2001, he said "The notion of the Russian World extends far from Russia's geographical borders and even far from the borders of the Russian ethnicity".
Putin visited the
Arkaim site of the
Sintashta culture in 2005, meeting the chief archaeologist
Gennady Zdanovich. The visit was widely covered in Russian media, which presented Arkaim as the "homeland of the majority of contemporary people in Asia, and, partly, Europe". Nationalists called Arkaim the "city of Russian glory" and the "most ancient Slavic-Aryan town". Zdanovich reportedly presented Arkaim to the president as a possible "national idea of Russia", a new idea of civilisation which
Victor Schnirelmann calls the "Russian idea".
Putin decreed the establishment of the government-sponsored
Russkiy Mir Foundation in 2007, to foster the idea of the "Russian world" abroad. It "has largely served as a way to push a Russian-centric agenda in former Soviet states".
Russian Orthodox Church
The "Russian world" concept is promoted by many in the leadership of the
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
. On 3 November 2009, at the Third Russian World Assembly, newly enthroned
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow defined the "Russian world" as "the common civilisational space founded on three pillars:
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
,
Russian culture
Russian culture ( rus, Культура России, Kul'tura Rossii, kʊlʲˈturə rɐˈsʲiɪ) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and both Eastern cultu ...
and especially the language and the common historical memory". For the Russian Orthodox Church, the ''Russian world'' is "a spiritual concept, a reminder that through the
baptism of Rus', God consecrated these people to the task of building a ''
Holy Rus''".
Patriarch Kirill's 2009 tour of Ukraine was described by Oleh Medvedev, adviser to Ukraine's prime minister, as "a visit of an imperialist who preached the neo-imperialist Russian World doctrine".
Orthodox condemnations
In the wake of the February 2022
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, 1,600 theologians and clerics of the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...
issued the ''Declaration on the 'Russian World' Teaching'', commonly known as the
Volos Declaration. It condemned the "Russian world" ideology as being heretical and a deviation from the
Orthodox faith. This declaration called the "Russian world" a
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.
Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
that is "
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...
in character".
[(2022)]
A Declaration on the ‘Russian World’ Teaching
" Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 42 : Iss. 4 , Article 11. They condemned six "pseudo theological facets" of the "Russian world" concept: replacing the
Kingdom of God
The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...
with an earthly kingdom; deification of the state through a
theocracy and
caesaropapism which deprives the Church of its freedom to stand against injustice; divinization of a culture;
Manichaean demonization of the
West; refusal to speak the truth and non-acknowledgement of "murderous intent and culpability".
Following this, among the
Orthodox Patriarchate
Patriarchate (, ; , ''patriarcheîon'') is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, referring to the office and jurisdiction of a patriarch.
According to Christian tradition, three patriarchates—Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria—were establi ...
s from the
Pentarchy, two have condemned the ideology as contrary to the teachings of
Christ
Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...
, linking it to
phyletism, an ideology condemned as an heresy by a
General Synod
The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion
The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly, is the legislative body of the Church ...
in
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
in 1872. The first to do so was the
Church of Alexandria and all-Africa and their Patriarch,
Theodore II.
They were followed by the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the first
Orthodox Church in rank and honor.
In their epistolary exchange of early 2023, the
Ecumenical Patriarch,
Bartholomew I and the
Archbishop of Cyprus,
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
, discussed the issue extensively.
Russia's war against Ukraine
In
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, the promotion of the "Russian world" became as early as 2018 strongly associated with the
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
. The
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
is said to implement the idea of the "Russian world".
Putin referenced
Fyodor Ushakov, an admiral who is the Orthodox patron saint of the
Russian Navy
The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...
. Putin recalled Ushakov's words: "the storms of war would glorify Russia". ''The Economist'' also pointed to
Patriarch Kirill's declaration of the godliness of the war and its role in keeping out the West's alleged decadent
gay culture, and to the priest
Elizbar Orlov who said that Russia's "
special military operation" in Ukraine is cleansing the world of "a
diabolic infection".
On 25 December 2022, in an interview for national television, Putin openly declared that Russia's goal is "to unite the Russian people" within a single state.
In June 2023, Putin said that Russian soldiers killed in the invasion of Ukraine "gave their lives for
Novorossiya
Novorossiya rus, Новороссия, Novorossiya, p=nəvɐˈrosʲːɪjə, a=Ru-Новороссия.ogg; , ; ; ; "New Russia". is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later becom ...
ew Russiaand for the unity of the Russian world".
Orlando Figes defines the invasion as "imperial expansionism" and writes that the Russians' sense of superiority may help to explain its brutality: "The Russian killings of civilians, their rapes of women, and other acts of terror are driven by a post-imperial urge to take revenge and punish them, to make them pay for their independence from Russia, for their determination to be part of Europe, to be Ukrainians, and not subjects of the 'Russian world'".
See also
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
Sources
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Russian nationalism
Politics of Russia
Russian diaspora
Putinism
Russian irredentism
Russian philosophy
Neo-fascism in Russia