russia

"United Russia is the second and worst edition of the CPSU. If it starts criticizing Putin, it will immediately end, because it is nothing without him."

"This is not a party but a trade union of serfs. Or voting protoplasm. Putin holds them as Ivan the Terrible held guardsmen. <...> United Russia is not needed by anyone except Putin."

"At the same time, yesterday's congress reminded me of the worst examples of mass meetings of the CPSU; however, then the country was smarter, more powerful, and more independent. At the congress of United Russia, there was neither a serious analysis, program for the near future, interesting decisions, or honest assessment of what is happening in the world and our country. And absolutely no real proposals for the next six years of government - nothing to discuss. There is an attempt to wash off opponents by exposing them in an unfavorable light, which looks immoral."

"In the quarter-century since the fall of Communism, we’ve forgotten what a cynical, unprincipled, authoritarian Russian regime looks like, especially one with an audacious global strategy and no qualms whatsoever about sacrificing human life...the living memory of the USSR is now truly fading and the nature of the USSR—its peculiar awfulness, its criminality, its stupidity—is becoming harder and harder to explain."

"Liberal Russophobia has become a powerful force responsible for deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations. The coalition of liberal Russophobes include those in Congress, media and think tanks who believe that Russia aims to destroy the U.S.-centered “liberal” international order and that President Donald Trump’s attempts to negotiate with the Kremlin do more harm than good."

"Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, [historian] Richard Pipes and many other American politicians... are frozen... with unchanging blindness and stubbornness they keep repeating... this theory about the supposed age-old aggressiveness of Russia, without taking into consideration today's reality."

"A bellicose stance toward Russia has become so routine and widespread that we might not give it a second thought."

"Throughout the day before the summit in Helsinki, the lead story on the New York Times home page stayed the same: “Just by Meeting With Trump, Putin Comes Out Ahead.” ... The Washington Post...editorialized that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is “an implacably hostile foreign adversary.” ...Contempt for diplomacy with Russia is now extreme..."

"The idea that the Russian Federation is the victim — even as it carries out a war of atrocity in Ukraine — is meant to distract from the experience of the real victims, in the real world. Against that backdrop, he rejected Moscow’s assertion that “our hurt feelings count more than other people’s lives”. The claim that Ukrainians are sick with a disease called “Russophobia” is simply a type of colonial rhetoric and part of a larger strategy of hate speech."

"Why rave ye, babblers, so -- ye lords of popular wonder?"

"The Kremlin’s dismembering of Ukraine in 2014 de facto removed millions of the most pro-Russian voters from Ukraine’s electoral rolls. It also turned the tens of millions still living under Kyiv’s authority decisively against Russia. The share of Ukrainians holding a favourable view of Russia sank from 84 per cent in 2010 to a mere third in 2019, according to polling by the Pew Research Center."

"The Revolution of Dignity and the [2014] war brought about a geopolitical reorientation of Ukrainian society. The proportion of those with positive attitudes toward Russia decreased from 80 percent in January 2014 to under 50 percent in September of the same year...There can be little doubt that the experience of war not only united most Ukrainians but also turned the country’s sympathies westward."

"The past year and a half of Russophobia have been driven by the “bitter clingers” of Hillary’s failed national political ambitions, the military-industrial complex, corporate interests, corporate media, the Washington/New York/Hollywood commentariat, and foreign lobbyists. Too many of them profit from an endless state of war—throughout the world and, in particular, with Russia."

"Firstly, I must say, that I personally believe that Russia is not by any means without faults. But the amount of anti-Russian propaganda in our media today is a throwback to the Cold War era...The demonization of Russia is, I believe, one of the most dangerous things that is happening in our world today. The scapegoating of Russia is an inexcusable game that the West is indulging in."

"But by looking at media today, those of us who are old enough will be reminded of the era of Cold War news articles, hysteria of how the Russians would invade and how we should duck and cover under tables in our kitchens for the ensuing nuclear war."

"I have no illusions or worry about the long-term future of Russia. Russia is now a gas station masquerading as a country."

"Many contemporary Russophobe references to Russian expansionism are almost word-for-word repetitions of nineteenth-century British propaganda (though many pre-1917 Russians were almost as bad, weeping copious crocodile tears over Britain's defeat of the Boers shortly before Russia itself crushed Polish aspirations for the fourth time in a hundred years)."

"Much of the intellectual basis for, and even the specific phraseology of, Russophobia was put forward in Britain in the nineteenth century, growing out of its rivalry with the Russian Empire. Given Britain's own record of imperial aggression and suppression of national revolt (in Ireland, let alone in India or Africa), the argument from the British side was a notable example of the kettle calling the pot black."

"While Moscow is depicted as an aggressive adversary, NATO surrounds Russia on three sides, has deployed anti-missile systems in Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and the Black Sea, and has a 12 to 1 advantage in military spending...NATO was a child of the Cold War, when the West believed that the Soviets were a threat. But Russia today is not the Soviet Union, and there’s no way Moscow would be stupid enough to attack a superior military force."

"One of the more interesting aspects of the nauseating impeachment trial in the Senate was the repeated vilification of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin."

"The answer is one: Equate Nazism with Russophobia, i.e. make it clear that by Nazism we mean Russophobia (and the ideology of Nazism was decidedly Russophobic), and by denazification - its eradication and then we will accuse Ukraine as a whole, its ruling regime and the Nazis of Azov and other extremist terrorist organisations, which are openly and radically Russophobic both in their words and in their criminal actions, of Russophobia-Nazism, in a completely calm, justified and responsible manner."

"If we understand denazification as a fight against Russophobia, then there is no need to prove that everyone in Ukraine is a Nazi and that Zelensky is an anti-Semite... Russophobia is almost equally characteristic of the Nazis of the Azov Regiment, the Jew Zelensky or pro-Western liberals. Russophobia is inherent in NATO and the EU, in US neocons and the Biden administration. And because it is, we are forced to respond."

"Nobody will be able to say: no, you have the wrong definition, because Russophobia is first and foremost about Russians, so Russians know best what it is and what it is not. So we need a law on Russophobia, which categorically prohibits it...Let us then take the next step and identify Ukrainian Nazism and Russophobia, that is, let us accuse Ukraine of Russophobia."

"Just as the content of anti-Semitism is defined by Jews, so the question "What is Russophobia?" applies only to Russians. Russophobia is the hatred of Russians because they are Russians, building a policy on hatred of Russians and performing certain actions, even of a violent nature. This is the meaning of the phenomenon. One can - and must! - write it down in detail and give it a legal status, and then everything will be solved."

"In the universe of Russian propaganda, Russia is an ideal state of sorts. International criticism of any Russian actions or misbehaviors is often labeled as Russophobic by the Russian officials, or, on lower levels of the Kremlin propaganda machine, by state-run media or even experts on the talk shows they host. “Russophobia” is a manipulative defensive line, often used by Russian propaganda to reduce any criticism of the Russian state to an irrational intolerance towards the Russian people."

"Brzezinski was seen as not only anti-Soviet, but a “Russophobe” as well. Dobrynin would recall how on the eve of the 1980 US presidential election (in which Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan), Brzezinski tried to convince him that Russians were prejudiced against him because he was Polish. “History provides us with abundant evidence of hostile relations between Russians and Poles,” he told Dobrynin, “and we still haven’t freed ourselves from this tragic past.”"

"Historian Frederick Lewis Schuman has written: "The net result of these hearings... was to picture Soviet Russia as a kind of bedlam inhabited by abject slaves completely at the mercy of an organization of homicidal maniacs whose purpose was to destroy all traces of civilization and carry the nation back to barbarism.""

"We in the West are never allowed to forget the political shortcomings (real and bogus) of the Soviet Union; at the same time we are never reminded of the history which lies behind it. The anti-communist propaganda campaign began even earlier than the military intervention. Before the year 1918 was over, expressions in the vein of "Red Peril", "the Bolshevik assault on civilization", and "menace to world by Reds is seen" had become commonplace in the pages of the New York Times."

"[T]here is the wonderful wealth of the language, which, as a popular tongue, is more flexible, more expressive of thought than any other living tongue I know of."

"Во дни сомнений, во дни тягостных раздумий о судьбах моей родины, — ты один мне поддержка и опора, о великий, могучий, правдивый и свободный русский язык! Не будь тебя — как не впасть в отчаяние при виде всего, что совершается дома? Но нельзя верить, чтобы такой язык не был дан великому народу!"

"This endless mobilization in Ukraine, the hysteria, the domestic problems – sooner or later it all will result in an agreement. You know, this will probably sound strange given the current situation but the relations between the two peoples will be rebuilt anyway. It will take a lot of time but they will heal. I will give you very unusual examples. There is a combat encounter on the battlefield, it is a specific example: Ukrainian soldiers got encircled (this is an example from real life), our soldiers were shouting to them: “There is no chance! Surrender yourselves! Come out and you will be alive!” Suddenly the Ukrainian soldiers were shouting back in Russian, perfect Russian: “Russians never surrender!” and all of them perished. They still identify themselves as Russians. What is happening is, to a certain extent, an element of a civil war. Everyone in the West thinks that the Russian people have been split by hostilities forever. No. They will be reunited. The unity is still there."

"It is a rather curious thing, that Russia, which has never had a parliamentary government, and where political history has been very little influenced by the spoken word, should have so much finer an instrument of expression than England, where matters of the greatest importance have been settled by open and public speech for nearly three hundred years. One would think that the constant use of the language in the national forum for purposes of argument and persuasion would help to make it flexible and subtle; and that the almost total absence of such employment would tend toward narrowness and rigidity. In this instance exactly the contrary is the case. If we may trust the testimony of those who know, we are forced to the conclusion that the English language, compared with the Russian, is nothing but an awkward dialect. Compared with Russian, the English language is decidedly weak in synonyms, and in the various shades of meaning that make for precision. Indeed, with the exception of Polish, Russian is probably the greatest language in the world, in richness, variety, definiteness, and elegance. It is also capable of saying much in little, and saying it with tremendous force."

"The Russian language is able to express by means of one pitiless word the idea of a certain widespread defect for which the other three European languages I happen to know possess no special term. The absence of a particular expression in the vocabulary of a nation does not necessarily coincide with the absence of the corresponding notion but it certainly impairs the fullness and readiness of the latter's perception."

"La langue russe, qui est, autant que j'en puis juger, le plus riche des idiomes de l'Europe, semble faite pour exprimer les nuances les plus delicates. Douée d'une merveilleuse concision qui s'allie à la clarté, il lui suffit d'un mot pour associer plusieurs idées, qui, dans une autre langue, exigeraient des phrases entières."

"Карл V, римский император, говаривал, что ишпанским языком с Богом, французским с друзьями, немецким с неприятелем, италианским с женским полом говорить прилично, но если бы он российскому языку был искусен, то к тому присовокупил бы, что им со всеми оными говорить пристойно, ибо нашёл бы в нём великолепие ишпанского, живость французского, крепость немецкого, нежность италианского, сверх того богатство и сильную в изображении краткость греческого и латинского языка. Обстоятельное всего сего доказательство требует другого места и случая. Меня долговременное в российском слове упражнение о том совершенно уверяет. Сильное красноречие Цицероново, великолепная Виргилиева важность, Овидиево приятное витийство не теряют своего достоинства на российском язы́ке. Тончайшие философские воображения и рассуждения, многоразличные естественные свойства и перемены, бывающие в сем видимом строении мира и в человеческих обращениях, имеют у нас пристойные и вещь выражающие речи."

"[А] вот только русским ничем не наделят, разве из патриотизма выстроят для себя на даче избу в русском вкусе. Вот каковы читатели высшего сословия, а за ними и все причитающие себя к высшему сословию! А между тем какая взыскательность! Хотят непременно, чтобы все было написано языком самым строгим, очищенным и благородным, — словом, хотят, чтобы русский язык сам собою опустился вдруг с облаков, обработанный как следует, и сел бы им прямо на язык, а им бы больше ничего, как только разинуть рты да выставить его."

"Сердцеведением и мудрым познаньем жизни отзовется слово британца; легким щеголем блеснет и разлетится недолговечное слово француза; затейливо придумает свое, не всякому доступное, умно-худощавое слово немец; но нет слова, которое было бы так замашисто, бойко так вырвалось бы из-под самого сердца, так бы кипело и животрепетало, как метко сказанное русское слово."

"[Moscow-based linguistic scholar Ivan] Levan is far from alone among Russian scholars who insist that Russian as spoken in Russia and elsewhere is one of the most diverse languages in the world – even though the Kremlin continues to speak as if Russian were a unified language and Moscow its definer (journal.tinkoff.ru/list/dialect-russia/)."

"[F]or a man whose mother tongue is Russian to speak about political evil is as natural as digestion [...]"

"​Солдатушки​, бравы ребятушки, А кто вашъ родимый? – Нашъ родимый – Царь непобѣдимый, Вотъ кто нашъ родимый. Солдатушки​, бравы ребятушки, ​Есть​ у васъ родная? ​– Есть​ родная, мать намъ дорогая, Наша Русь святая. ​Солдатушки​, бравы ребятушки, Гдѣ же ваша слава? – Наша слава — Русская держава, Вотъ гдѣ наша слава. ​Солдатушки​, бравы ребятушки, Гдѣ же ваши дѣды? – Наши дѣды — ​славные​ побѣды, Вотъ гдѣ наши дѣды. Translation: ​Little soldiers, brave little guys, And who is your esteemed? – Our esteemed, the invincible Tsar That's who our esteemed is. Little soldiers, brave little guys, Do you have a darling? – There's a darling, our dear mother, Our Holy Rus'. Little soldiers, brave little guys, Where is your glory? – Our glory is the Russian state – That's where our glory is. Soldiers, brave little guys, Where are your grandfathers? – Our grandfathers are [the] glorious victories, That's where our grandfathers are.' * Soldatushki (little soldiers), Imperial army song popular in the 19th century. Note that many different versions exist, although always with similar format and pace."

"Russia has become very authoritarian. It doesn’t accept free speech or real elections anymore."

"We have now seen the weakness of Russia's democratic institutions, the ease with which a Russian leader can stoke nationalist hysteria."

"In Russia we only had two T.V. channels. Channel One was propaganda. Channel Two consisted of a KGB officer telling you: Turn back at once to Channel One."

"Perhaps because of its proximity to Western Europe (China is much further away), its size (the biggest country in the world) and its out-of-focus familiarity (no country is simultaneously so exotic and ever-present) Russia has sometimes seemed a unique menace in Western eyes. This feeling, usually based on error and even more often on prejudice, has come and gone for at least five centuries. We might call it the Russia Anxiety. At its worst, it creates a preposterous bogeyman and is itself a threat to world peace, most catastrophically so in July 1914."

"Although Ilyin dressed up his idea of contemplation in several books, it really was no more than that: he saw his own nation as righteous, and the purity of that vision was more important than anything Russians actually did. The nation, “pure and objective,” was what the philosopher saw when he blinded himself. Innocence took a specific biological form. What Ilyin saw was a virginal Russian body. Like fascists and other authoritarians of his day, Ilyin insisted that his nation was a creature, “an organism of nature and the soul,” an animal in Eden without original sin. Who belonged within the Russian organism was not for the individual to decide, since cells do not decide whether they belong to a body. Russian culture, Ilyin wrote, automatically brought “fraternal union” wherever Russian power extended. Ilyin wrote of “Ukrainians” in quotation marks, because he denied their separate existence beyond the Russian organism. To speak of Ukraine was to be a mortal enemy of Russia. Ilyin took for granted that a post-Soviet Russia would include Ukraine."

"In 1944, investigator, proud of his faultless logic [...] told Babitsh: "Investigation and the process are merely juridical figaration, that can't change your destiny, which has been determined before. If it is necessary to shoot you, you'll be shot, even if you're completely innocent.""

"We forget everything. What we remember is not what actually happened, not history, but merely that hackneyed dotted line they have chosen to drive into our memories by incessant hammering."

"Already for quite a few years we have been trying to crawl out from under the rubble of communism. But through the mistakes of our governments and of the people itself, we are crawling out by way of the most burdensome, crooked and inefficient path and with the most possible victims. Such are also our chosen methods of economic reform. And such is the filth of our spiritual atmosphere! For not a single one of the former oppressors and even the executioners has been brought to justice. They haven't even repented. The whole communist elite has had time to simply change masks--some became "democrats," some became businessmen--but they have successfully held on to all the commanding positions, both in Moscow and in the provinces. The government structure that we have today is pseudo-democracy, since the people do not control the actions of the authorities, do not decide their own fate and have already lost hope in deciding it. The main problem in Russia today is the lack of initiative and stubborn self-reliance at the grass roots. Only from here, and not from above, can real power of the people be established."

"The idea of a concentration camp is excellent."

"Listen, there's been a campaign, a war against Russia going on for a long time. It started again in the United States around 2006, '07, when he made that speech in Munich, but I think there's no evidence really of the aggressiveness of Russia. The aggressiveness is truly coming from the NATO forces that have encircled Russia and that are also, by the way, encircling China. You know, this is a big policy point, huge, of huge importance... If you look at the reporting from all of our major networks, it's very hostile when it comes to people who we deem to be enemies, whether it's Chávez or whether it's Castro or Putin. I've never seen an interview done from the American perspective where they allow the subject to express himself in what he was seeking to do, what his purpose was."