White Nationalist Delusions About Russia

Émile Durand

Map of Eurasia from 1771. Much of present-day Russia is called Great Tartary.

4,127 words

German translation here

The crisis in Ukraine is unfolding at full speed, and White Nationalist circles in the West are closely following the events. A lot has already been said about the deep cultural and historical divide separating the western, Europe-oriented part of Ukraine from the eastern part, which has strong ties with Russia. With Russia’s military moves in the Crimea, some are even prophesying the onset of the Third World War.

The majority of White Nationalists in the West nowadays cherish strong hopes in Russia and Putin in particular, which have reached a crescendo with the ongoing Ukraine crisis. However, I want to argue that these hopes are grave delusions. Not because Putin is also controlled by Jews, as is being countered by some White Nationalists; he may or may not be, but that makes no difference for us. And alternatively, even if Putin’s Russia is not controlled by the Jews as strongly as the West (which is indeed not true – see below), even if Russia receives the full wrath of the Jewish-controlled media, it still doesn’t make Putin’s Russia our friend or a natural ally.

Nevertheless, I concede that at the moment Russia is the lesser evil for the white race compared to the Jew-led West. But still it has to be understood that Russia is also an evil, an essentially anti-white system. Hence, at most, it could be only a temporary ally.

White Nationalists seek power to enable our race to fulfill its destiny. To gain power, however, our movement has to have a firm grasp on reality. We also need a thorough knowledge of its enemies and (potential) allies. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for White Nationalists to have a clear understanding of who the Russians are. This understanding will be especially crucial if White Nationalists seek an alliance with Russia in the future against a common enemy.

Somehow when reflecting upon Russians, White Nationalists, who in all other instances are manifestly sober and realistic with regard to race and ethnicity, suddenly lose their common sense. When one speaks of German or French identity, it is understood that the Germans and the French are white, European peoples, regardless of recent non-white immigration. Thus German and French nationalism are not necessarily opposed to wider white racial interests, although they often have been. Let’s call German, French, and similar identities ethnic, because they denote a core ethnic group.

Brazilian identity, however, does not have such unambiguous racial connotations. Brazil has many Europeans, but it also has blacks, Amerindians, and many individuals of two or more races. Thus Brazilian nationalism is, by its nature, inconsistent with white racial interests. American identity used to connote whiteness, even though America had non-white minorities. But the American identity has been transformed into a commitment to the idea of freedom and equality for all. Thus American nationalism is, by its nature, opposed to white racial interests. Let’s call American, Brazilian, and analogous identities trans-racial, since they both transcend and transform races.

Russian identity is more analogous to American and Brazilian trans-racial identity than German or French ethnic identity. There are many Russians who are entirely European. But there are also many Russians of Near Eastern and Mongoloid ancestry, and many of mixed race. But even the whitest of Russians, to the extent that he thinks of himself as a Russian, is committed to a trans-racial identity, an identity whose racial “substratum” includes not just European, but also Mongoloid and Near Eastern (e.g., Caucasian) elements, as well as mixtures of all three.

A Russian is not, therefore, just another kind of European. Thus it is with good reason that Russians have always felt that their identity, interests, and destiny are distinct from those of Europe. European White Nationalists need to recognize this as well.

White Nationalists are also well aware that a country’s developmental index, its per-capita GDP, the average income of its citizens, the level of corruption, etc. are directly correlated with average levels of many heritable traits within its population. In terms of corruption and many other parameters Russia is far closer to a country like Brazil than to any European country. In some areas, Russia is not even within Asian or Latin American ranges but rather competes with sub-Saharan Africa.

Moreover, blaming the backwardness of Russia on Communism would be like blaming slavery for the backwardness of Africa. Firstly, Russia has always been backward in comparison to the West, and secondly most of the former Eastern bloc and USSR countries in Europe managed to create functional and prosperous societies shortly after freeing themselves from the Russian yoke. Belarus and Ukraine have been exceptions, mainly due to the fact that even after gaining independence they could never properly throw off Russian influence.

If the identity, interests, and destiny of Russia are not European, the fact that Putin has passed some traditionalist laws and that Russian society is allegedly moving in a more traditionalist direction does not help European White Nationalists in any way.

If we are to rejoice at Russian traditionalism and see them as allies simply because of that, then why don’t we see Muslims as allies and see hope for the West in their traditionalism as well? After all, they are even more hardcore than Russians.

Traditionalism serves the well-being and promotes the survival of every different ethnic group, but just because different ethnic groups choose similar methods and values to promote their own survival does not automatically make them allies.

Therefore the stronger traditionalism of Russians, their patriotism and pride in their heritage, do not advance White Nationalist interests any more than the racial pride and patriotism of Indians, Chinese, Middle Easterners, Latin Americans, or Africans. Indeed, it might make them more formidable enemies of our interests.

The Grand Duchy of Moscow as the Forerunner of the Russian state

Racially and culturally, the forerunner of Russia was the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1263–1547) which later became the Tsardom of Russia under Ivan IV (The Terrible), and not Kievan Rus as has been claimed by Russian historians since the time of Catherine the Great (who, by the way, was not Russian).

Already by the end of the 15th century, the Grand Duchy of Moscow was populated mostly by Christianized Tatar-Mongols who in the course of the previous two centuries had gradually adopted Orthodox Christianity and taken Slavic names. The indigenous Slavic population had become a minority in a relatively short period of time due to the large influx of these Christianized Asiatic nomads, and due to mixed marriages between Christianized Mongols and indigenous Slavs.

The expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow further to the east, into the lands of Ugric peoples (e.g., Mordvins, Udmurts), increased the Asiatic component of the population even further. Later, under Ivan the Terrible, the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates were conquered and incorporated into the Tsardom of Russia. The vast majority of the Volga Bulgars populating those states (whose descendants from the 19th century on were falsely called “Tatars,” not to be confused with the nomadic Tatars mentioned above), was forced to adopt Christianity and Slavic names. And finally, beginning with the conquest of Siberia in the 17th century, there was a gradual Christianization and Russification of the mostly Turkic peoples populating those lands.

The only Eastern Slavic state not affected by the Mongol invasions and hence able to retain its white Slavic/Nordic composition was the Novgorod Republic. Its customs, its culture, and the mentality of its inhabitants differed from those of Muscovy. As race realists should realize, these differences relate to differences in racial composition of those two states. The most glaring difference is in the system of government: although Asiatic despotism reigned in Muscovy, Novgorod was governed by a popular assembly, the “Veche,” which was similar to the Norse “thing” or Swiss cantonal assembly.

However, as a result of two wars in 1471 and 1477–78 Novgorod was conquered and destroyed by Muscovy. The city was devastated, and most of its inhabitants were massacred in the cruelest (i.e., Asiatic) manner. The Great Novgorod that was spared from the invasion by nomadic Mongols suffered destruction at the hands of Slavs and Christianized Tatar-Mongols. With the complete victory of Muscovy over Novgorod, the destiny of the future Russian state was determined.

The people of Muscovy identified themselves solely as Orthodox (Pravoslavnye), and the term “Russian” was indeed completely unknown to them. Beginning with Ivan III, the grand dukes and later the tsars saw themselves as the heirs of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire (hence the term “Third Rome” coined by them), and the champions of Orthodox Christianity. They were never guided by any kind of ethnic or racial identity or an idea of an ethnic state. The Orthodox Church, like all Christian churches, accepted converts of all races and blessed interracial marriages and their offspring.

From the start, then, the Russian identity was not of a white European people, but of a white, Asiatic, and mixed-race population professing Orthodox Christianity and ruled from Moscow.

Interestingly, however, at that time there were people who had long called themselves “Ruskie” (with one “s”) and most importantly were identified as such in Western Europe. They were the descendants of the people of Kievan Rus. At that time, they were the subjects of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where they formed by far the largest demographic and linguistic group. Their ethnic and linguistic descendants are present-day Ukrainians and Belarusians. Later historians began calling them Ruthenians. Modern Ukrainian and Belarusian developed from the Ruthenian language. Therefore, it is the Ukrainians and Belarusians who are the rightful heirs (both racially and culturally) of Kievan Rus.

There were dramatic differences between Ruthenia and Muscovy. Slavish servility towards rulers, a typical Oriental trait, was characteristic of the Muscovites, whereas in Ruthenia the Magdeburg Law, completely unknown in Muscovy, operated in the towns, and the Ruthenians were as conscious of their rights and free in spirit as their western European counterparts. Therefore, from the very beginning, the inhabitants of Ruthenia were aware that Muscovite-Russians were a very different people. Even today the word “Muscovite” (Moskal) is used in Ukrainian as a derogatory term for Russians.

Thus the opposition of Ukraine towards Russia has deep historical roots. The recent conflict in Ukraine, as well as the Orange Revolution in 2004, have to be seen primarily not in terms of geopolitics, as many White Nationalists are inclined to do, but rather as a deeper confrontation — as the struggle of European Slavs against an alien, non-European power.

The Europeanization and De-Europeanization of Russia

There was, however, a considerable infusion of European blood and European culture into Russia beginning in the 18th century when Peter I (the Great) proclaimed the Russian Empire and oriented the Russian state toward the West. Many European (mostly German, but also French, Italian, and Swedish) engineers, craftsmen, artists, and state and army officials were invited to Russia to develop the infrastructure, to modernize the army and state apparatus, to educate the local population, and to introduce western art.

This process accelerated when large numbers of German settlers were invited by Catherine II (the Great), herself also German, to cultivate large swathes of Russian territory. The German newcomers settled especially around the Volga River basin, and their descendants later became known as Volga Germans. It was mostly thanks to the efforts and contributions of Russian Germans that Russia became Europeanized and assumed her position among the main European powers.

Indeed, it is only beginning in the 18th century that the terms “Russia” (Rossiya) and “Russian” (Russkiy) came into widespread use, and historians of the Russian Empire actively promote the idea of Russia being the rightful heir of Kievan Rus in order to ideologically justify the past and future conquests under the motto “gathering the ancient lands of Rus.”

This “Europeanization,” however, occurred only on the surface, and in its essence Russia remained a distinctly non-European society, in which a European minority elite ruled over a Slavic, Asiatic, Near Eastern, and mixed-race population. However, this process of “Europeanization” was drastically reversed, both culturally and more importantly racially, with the Bolshevik Revolution.

It is a common misconception to regard the imposition of communism in Russia as a merely a political change. First and foremost, the Bolshevik Revolution was a revolt of the culturally and/or racially non-European masses against the European elite. In short, this critical event in history has to be primarily comprehended not in social-political but rather in racial terms. The ideals of communism served only as a façade, as a tool through which the spiteful non-European masses expressed their deep and long-held hatred and resentment towards their European masters and everything European. This was already at that time clearly observed and eloquently pointed out by Oswald Spengler.

Most importantly, communism drastically and irreversibly changed the racial makeup of the Russian population. The Communist regime targeted mostly the intellectual and political elites for destruction, who were primarily descendants the indigenous Slavic population and later European immigrants. Millions were murdered, and the luckier ones escaped to Europe, never to return. And since the de-Europeanization of Russia was first and foremost racial, it would be highly misleading to conclude that Russia returned to the European world after the fall of communism.

Putin’s “New” Russia

Indeed, the majority of the current Russian population reveres the Soviet past. The official ideology of Putin’s Russia rests upon its glorification. And, as expected, Putin’s Russia takes inspiration from the Soviet past rather than from the Russian Empire, which can be regarded as the only (quasi) European period in Russian history. Putin once even called the collapse of the Soviet Union “the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century.” Not the creation of the Soviet Union, mind you, but rather its collapse is the great catastrophe for Putin and his supporters, who are the vast majority of Russians.

Most importantly, every year Russians joyfully celebrate their “victory” in the Second World War (which they call “Great Patriotic War”), without regard to the fact that this “victory” was the gravest event in the history of the white race. These celebrations are accompanied by military parades on the Red Square in Moscow. This cult of victory is the main pillar upon which the national identity of Putin’s “new” Russia rests. They venerate their “veterans of the Great Patriotic War” who were the rapists of millions of white women, murderers of millions of white men and children. Basically this veneration of the barbarian hordes, and the pride that they feel in the barbarian invasion of Europe, underlines their ethnic identity. This alone is enough to conclusively demonstrate that the identity and nationalism of Russians are in conflict with white ethnic identity.

Even the slightest attempt to shed light on the crimes of the Red Army and to revise the official WWII narrative is met with the same kind of hysteria that characterizes Western liberals. At every opportunity, the Russian media demonize Estonia, Latvia, or Ukraine when they commemorate their heroes who fought alongside Germany against the Red Army defending their homelands, or when they remove the monuments to Red Army soldiers installed in their cities by the Soviet government. For example, in 2007, when Estonian authorities removed the Red Army monument in the center of Tallinn, the official Russian media went into hysterics, and “youths” from pro-Putin organizations surrounded the Estonian embassy in Moscow and threatened the ambassador.

There are a lot of Russians living in Estonia and Latvia (around 30% of the population). Their ancestors were settled there by Stalin in a deliberate attempt to change the demographics of those two small Baltic states. The social profile, behavior, and attitudes of these Russians closely resemble those of non-white Third World immigrants in western countries.

One simple and glaring example illustrates this point. The removal of the Red Army monument in the center of Tallinn coincided with the presidential elections in France which resulted in the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy. As is well known, after the elections the black/Arab population rioted. Around the same time, the Russians rioted in Tallinn, and they did everything they could to earn the name “Arabs of Estonia” — e.g., in Tallinn, as in Paris, burning cars and vandalism were widespread. But that did not stop Russian news sources from branding the Estonian government and police evil “fascists.”

In addition, many western White Nationalists may be surprised to hear that the Russian inhabitants of Crimea have recently shown their solidarity with Russia by waving the banners of the USSR and the Ukrainian Communist Party. They also have vilified and demonized the leaders of the Ukrainian resistance fighters who fought alongside the Germans against invading Soviet hordes – i.e., Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich.

Putin’s Russia is Nearly as Anti-White as the Liberal West

It is also a widespread delusion among western White Nationalists that Russia is free of Jewish influence and is an antidote to the Jew-led New World Order. Firstly, at every opportunity, Putin pays homage to the official “holocaust” narrative promulgated by the Jews. On many occasions he said that the holocaust was the most abominable atrocity in history, and the Red Army put an end to this horror. Since the cult of victory in WWII and the glorification of the Soviet past are the main pillars of national identity in modern Russia, this implies that Russian identity and patriotism are not only not opposed to Jewish interests but, on the contrary, are directly in line with them.

Secondly, anti-Semitism is very weak in Putin’s Russia, and Jews feel quite comfortable and welcome. Jewish life is flourishing at a level comparable only to the early aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. A popular Russian-Jewish crooner, Iosif Kobzon, said not so long ago that “Jews are currently experiencing a Renaissance in Russia.” Furthermore, before the presidential elections in 2012, the chairman of the Council of Russian Jews proclaimed his full support to Putin and expressed his confidence that all Jews in Russia will vote for him. He even said that he doesn’t know a single Jew in Russia who would be against Putin.

Moreover, again contrary to the hopes of many White Nationalists, neither Putin’s opposition to U.S. military intervention in Syria nor his passing legislation against some of the currents actively promoted by Jews in the West (e.g., homosexuality) is enough to qualify him as our ally or as anti-Jewish. For one thing, the attitude of international Jewry towards the Syrian crisis is not monolithic. While neocons promote military intervention, the Left, which is also led by Jews, strongly opposes it. Therefore, one cannot say that the failure of the campaign against the Assad regime is the failure of a specifically Jewish issue.

Regarding Putin’s anti-gay legislation, Uganda has also recently passed a law against homosexuality. Blacks and Muslims have been staunchly homophobic from time immemorial. But is it enough to make Uganda or Muslims and blacks in general our allies?

Finally, and most importantly, real Russian White Nationalists, who are as much a minority in Putin’s Russia as their counterparts are in the West, are vilified as “Nazis” and are persecuted far more harshly than in the liberal west.

The Ukrainian Revolution from White Nationalist Point of View

Many western White Nationalists lament that Ukrainian nationalist organizations receive support from and maybe try to court favor from Jews. Others reproach Ukrainians for their petty nationalistic separatism, which is allegedly incompatible with the common fight against the perilous situation of whites worldwide. However, Ukraine is currently in a historical stage which western nations passed through long ago — i.e., the acquisition of a national identity. This step is a precondition for Ukrainians to acquire a broader sense white identity in the future.

Therefore, any consistent and honest White Nationalist should support the current Ukrainian revolution. If Ukraine has any chance to join the larger white European family, this is the time. White Ukrainians are breaking free from the Russian (non-European) yoke and joining their white brethren in the West.

It is simply a given that Jews will interfere with and try to profit from every upheaval, and they hedge their bets by playing both sides. Putin also has Jewish friends and advisers. So Jewish involvement in Ukrainian affairs is not in itself evidence that Jews are running the show, any more than Jewish involvement in Russian affairs is evidence that they control Putin.

Moreover, western White Nationalists should not underestimate Ukrainians (and by extension other Eastern Europeans), and they should not overestimate the brainwashing power of the Jew-led EU. Having closer ties with the West and even joining the EU does not automatically mean Ukraine will be flooded by hordes of non-white immigrants or gays will be marching on the streets of every big city.

Many Eastern European countries, including the post-Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, joined the EU in 2004. However, those countries remain predominantly white. So far, they have been completely spared the demographic changes experienced by western countries through non-white mass immigration. Eastern Europeans are sufficiently traditionalist not to permit their countries to be flooded by non-whites.

In addition, non-white immigrants find relatively poor Eastern European countries unattractive destinations. They look for easy money, welfare, preferential treatment, an opportunity to behave insolently with impunity, etc. If they feel that the local white population will not provide these opportunities to them, they will simply avoid those places.

Non-white immigrants also avoid relatively ethnocentric societies. Eastern Europe (especially Poland and Ukraine) already has a widespread image as “racist” terrain, to be avoided. The same incentives can be observed within Germany. The former East German territories have the reputation of being populated with “racists” and dangerous for immigrants. As a result, Turks, blacks, Arabs, etc. are simply afraid to go there. Thus even large cities like Leipzig and Dresden continue to have almost exclusively white populations.

Concluding Remarks

I wish to repeat and emphasize that I recognize that there are many white people in Russia, just as there are many whites in Latin America and the US. And I recognize all whites as potential allies of White Nationalism. However, Russian White Nationalists have to understand that white identity is in conflict with Russian patriotism and Russian ethnic identity, just as white Mexicans recognize that White Nationalism is incompatible with Mexican identity and patriotism, and white Americans recognize that White Nationalism is incompatible with the universalistic, multiracial concept of American identity that Jews promote.

But those who think of themselves as Russians first and whites second have an identity, interests, and destiny opposed to Europe and White Nationalism. The same is true of a white American who thinks of himself as an American first, thereby adopting an identity, interests, and destiny opposed to White Nationalism. Being a French or a German patriot does not necessarily conflict with larger white interests, since France and Germany are integrally white countries. But being an American or Brazilian or Russian patriot does. Vladimir Putin is a Russian patriot. For a White Nationalist, that should not be a compliment.

To be consistent, White Nationalists should support Svoboda and Right Sector and not Putin’s Russia. A movement that aims at power has to possess a clear and sober understanding of its friends, potential allies, and enemies. First and foremost, it has to consolidate all of its adherents before considering an alliance with an alien power against a common enemy. It might well be expedient to ally ourselves with Russia on some occasions. But that alliance should not entail the betrayal of our racial and ideological brethren in Eastern Europe.

To conclude, western White Nationalists need to awaken from their Russophile dreams and face reality. Rather than fawning over Russia and Putin, they should be more concerned with maintaining their credibility with their Eastern European brothers and sisters. There are many devoted Ukrainian, Estonian, Latvian, and other Eastern European nationalists reading western White Nationalist sites. When they encounter naïve, childish, and frankly hysterical Russophilia, they are rightly appalled.

Russian identity is as trans-racial as American identity, Christianity, Islam, liberalism, and Marxism. Russian imperialism, like American imperialism, Christianity, Islam, etc., is a mighty engine of miscegenation, an engine that has been chugging away since the Middle Ages. Like the first Rome and the second Rome, the Third Rome is not a nation but a machine that liquidates every nation it captures, including its own founders.