Anti-Russian sentiment

For opposition towards the current government of Russia, see Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia.

Anti-Russian sentiment or Russophobia is dislike or fear or hatred of Russia, Russian people, or Russian culture. The opposite of Russophobia is Russophilia.

Historically, Russophobia has included state-sponsored and grassroots mistreatment and discrimination, as well as propaganda containing anti-Russian sentiment.[1][2] In Europe, Russophobia was based on various more or less fantastic fears of Russian conquest of Europe, such as those based on The Will of Peter the Great forgery documented in France in the 19th century and later resurfacing in Britain as a result of fears of a Russian attack on British-colonized India in relation to the Great Game. Pre-existing anti-Russian sentiment in Germany is considered to be one of the factors influencing treatment of Russian population under German occupation during World War II.

Nowadays, a variety of popular culture clichés and negative stereotypes about Russians still exist, notably in the Western world.[3] Some individuals may have prejudice or hatred against Russians due to history, racism, propaganda, or ingrained stereotypes.[4][5][6][7][8] Negative views of Russia are widespread, but most prevalent in Western liberal democracies.[9][10][11]

Some analysts have argued that official Western rhetoric and journalism about Russian actions abroad have contributed to the resurgence of anti-Russian sentiment, besides disapproval of the Second Chechen War, Russian reaction to NATO enlargement, the 2008 Russo-Georgian war and Russian interference in the 2016 United States election.[12][13][14] Anti-Russian sentiment rose considerably after the start of the Russian war against Ukraine in 2014.[15] By the summer of 2020, majority of Western nations had unfavorable views of Russia.[16]

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian-speaking immigrants experienced harassment, open hostility and discrimination.[17][18][19]

Some researchers have described use of "Russophobia" narratives to be a tactic used by Vladimir Putin. These narratives emphasizes the belief that Russia faces an existential threat from the Western powers and must take drastic measures to ensure domestic stability including support for the ongoing war in Ukraine. Such narratives have been described as Russian imperialism.[20][21][22]

  1. ^ McNally, Raymond T. (1958). "The Origins of Russophobia in France: 1812-1830". Slavic Review. 17 (2): 173–189. doi:10.2307/3004165. ISSN 1049-7544. JSTOR 3004165.
  2. ^ Williams, Robert C. (1966). "Russians in Germany: 1900-1914". Journal of Contemporary History. 1 (4): 121–149. doi:10.1177/002200946600100405. JSTOR 259894. S2CID 154477120.
  3. ^ Brook, Tom (5 November 2014). "Hollywood stereotypes: Why are Russians the bad guys". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Submission to the United States Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination". Human Rights Documents Online. doi:10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-9211-20180082.
  5. ^ Macgilchrist, Felicitas (21 January 2009). "Framing Russia: The construction of Russia and Chechnya in the western media". Europa-Universitat Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  6. ^ Le, E´lisabeth (2006). "Collective Memories and Representations of National Identity in Editorials: Obstacles to a renegotiation of intercultural relations" (PDF). Journalism Studies. 7 (5): 708–728. doi:10.1080/14616700600890372. S2CID 59404040. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
  7. ^ Mertelsmann, Olaf. "How the Russians Turned into the Image of the 'National Enemy' of the Estonians" (PDF). Estonian National Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  8. ^ Luostarinen, Heikki (May 1989). "Finnish Russophobia: The Story of an Enemy Image". Journal of Peace Research. 26 (2): 123–137. doi:10.1177/0022343389026002002. JSTOR 423864. S2CID 145354618.
  9. ^ "Democracy Perception Index 2022". Alliance of Democracies. 30 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Globalism 2019/20" (PDF). YouGov. 27 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Pew Research Center, Spring 2019 Global Attitudes Survey" (PDF). Pew Research Center. 7 December 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 March 2021.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference carnegie2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Lopez, Oscar (28 September 2018). "US-Russian journalist talks rise of Putin". Yale Daily News. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022. Pozner also claimed that mainstream journalists in both the U.S. and Russia contributed to the formation of the negative opinions the citizens of both countries have of each other.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2008georgiausrussia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference pew-attitudes-2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference pew202014nations was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ "Germany reports rise in attacks against Russian, Ukrainian migrants". Reuters. 2022-04-05. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapo2022childrenenemies was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapo2022hostility was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference mcfaul15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapo2206 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference jdpz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).