Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech in Moscow last Friday in which he vilified the West as “satanic.” Putin also positioned Russia as the leader of a new “anti-colonial” world in which nations can better protect their sovereignty and cultural values. The speech was breathtakingly dishonest and hypocritical, reinforcing the Kremlin’s lack of moral and intellectual integrity.
Putin began by justifying Russia’s self-proclaimed annexation of Ukrainian territory, arguing that recent referendums showed overwhelming support for joining Russia. These appeals to self-determination ring hollow given that referendum participants were forced to vote under duress at gunpoint, their ballots keenly observed by armed “election officials” who, among other abuses, offered bribes for pro-annexation votes and encouraged people to vote multiple times. Treating these referendums as legitimate does not honor self-determination but rather mocks it.
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Putin’s understanding of colonial history was similarly distorted. Yes, the West deserves criticism for its historical misdeeds, but current governments should not be judged by the sins of their predecessors. However, if we accept the legitimacy of historical guilt, then Russia has as much, if not more, to answer for than the West.
Putin claims that the Russian empire was built upon pluralistic respect for all peoples and religions and that Russia, via the Soviet Union, was an anti-colonial leader in the 20th century. This is an outrageous lie. Russia’s eastern lands, which account for the majority of its territory and natural wealth, were stolen from other nations through centuries of brutal expansionism that relegated non-Russians to second-class status. There was no religious pluralism — Jews were only permitted to inhabit the impoverished western fringes of the Russian empire, and Muslims lived under martial law and were not considered citizens. Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, Russia colonized Ukrainian lands and eventually banned any literature, public readings, and stage performances that celebrated Ukrainian culture and language.
This colonial legacy expanded under the Soviet Union, which was a mere vessel for Russian power. The Soviets, conspiring with the Nazis, annexed eastern Poland and, seeking to break Poland’s spirit, massacred 8,000 members of the Polish intelligentsia in 1940. After the Second World War, Russia subjugated Eastern Europe under the guise of socialist liberation and used tanks to crush any independence movements that dared resist — as happened in Hungary in 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968. Concurrently, Russia continued its colonization of Asia, culminating in its disastrous attempt to install a puppet government in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
With this in mind, and considering Russia’s attempts to recolonize Ukraine, Putin’s portrayal of Russia as an “anti-colonial” hero is shameless and deplorable. The West is not without sin, but at least we acknowledge and grapple with our historic failings.
Putin argues that the West is as colonial as ever and that the international rules-based order is nothing short of Western neo-colonialism. “Where did they come from? Who even saw these rules? Who agreed?” he asks, ignoring the fact that Russia is a major signatory of every major international institution that constitutes this order. To this day, Putin enthusiastically participates in these institutions, appealing to United Nations Charter Rights to defend his annexation and using his veto power at the U.N. Security Council to further his interests. Even so, he hypocritically attacks them when it suits him.
“It is clear that the current neo-colonial model is ultimately doomed,” says Putin. His statement could easily turn out to be true, but not in the way he thinks. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is faltering and Europe is valiantly resisting Russia’s energy warfare, so it seems that neo-colonialism is failing, just of the Russian kind.
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Adam Zivo is a Canadian columnist and policy analyst who relocated to Ukraine earlier this year to report on the Russia-Ukraine war. He is writing a book on how the war is experienced by average Ukrainians.
