Russia

"No matter how powerful the forces against them, when people are prepared to stand up for what they believe, they succeed... [T]hat’s the basis of my hope for the future of Russia."

"I think Russian people are learning that democracy is not an alien thing; it's not a western invention. It's probably the most affordable mechanism to solve problems inside the country, inside the society because Putin proved to all of us that democracy has a world of alternatives, security forces and police and power abuse and that's why I think eventually the people of Russia will embrace democracy as the least costly institution to help them to solve their daily problems."

"Millions like me in Russia want a free press, the rule of law, social justice, and free and fair elections. My new job is to fight for those people and to fight for these fundamental rights."

"I think many Russians, but also a lot of Westerners, make a very serious mistake in trying to look for… a better person to become president. They are searching for such a person in [Alexei] Navalny, in myself, but that’s a mistake. Anyone who replaces Putin is going to take Russia along the same imperialist route. [...] It is a very large and very diverse country, and if you want to manage it from one central spot, you have to have a very strong bureaucratic apparatus. To have such a huge apparatus at the centre has to be explained by having to protect the country from an outside enemy – there is no other explanation that people will accept."

"In Russia, all you have to do to get a house is to be born."

"The existence of Russia is of a great spiritual and cultural value – not only for you and me, but for all humanity. And we are calling for the preservation of the people of Russia, for the birth of our new compatriots, not only and not so much because these people are needed by the country, but also to a great extent because this country is needed by people. Russia must exist and play its irreplaceable role in our destiny with you, in the destiny of our descendants and throughout world history. The special value of Russia, its special vocation is to be a stronghold of Orthodox Christianity. To preserve the Orthodox faith, Orthodox tradition and culture, Christian moral principles intact. Maybe that is why the powers that be are so ganged up on the Russian Orthodox Church, wanting to tear away the Greek Orthodox world from the Russian Church, wanting to destroy the unity of the Orthodox Church. We possess reliable information that everything that is happening now in world Orthodoxy is not an accident, not just the whim of a religious figure whose mind has become clouded. This is the implementation of a very specific plan that aims to tear the Greek world away from Russia. According to the perpetrators — I cannot describe these strategists in any other way — the Russian Church appears to be some kind of “soft power”, through which Russia influences the world around it. But why can’t Russia share its spiritual gifts? Is it criminal? This can be criminal only in the view of those who seek to weaken, and if possible to destroy the influence of Russia. In this whole story related to the problem of recognition or non-recognition of Ukrainian schismatics by the Local Orthodox Churches, there is something that is not declared, but which is the main goal of the forces behind the scenes that unleashed this schismatic activity. We in the Russian Church understand this clearly, but today our brothers in Greece and other Orthodox Churches also understand this. We are being asked to resist, not to flinch, to continue the struggle to maintain the spiritual independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from all these centres of world influence, and most importantly – to maintain the unity of Universal Orthodoxy. This is not a simple task. The Church has no army. The Church has no material means. So it is not easy without material means to build the spiritual defense."

"[W]hat makes Russia’s war on truth so ominous is that it transcends ideology. Once Moscow had Pravda and espoused the virtues of the international proletariat. Today it uses “fake news” as part of a long-term strategy to transform Western publics into conspiracy-addled zombies."

"Few countries in history have started more wars or caused more turmoil than Russia in its eternal quest for security and status. It is also true, however, that at critical junctures Russia has saved the world’s equilibrium from forces that sought to overwhelm it: from the Mongols in the 16th century, from Sweden in the 18th century, from Napoleon in the 19th century, and from Hitler in the 20th century. In the contemporary period, Russia will be important in overcoming radical Islam, partly because it is home to some 20 million Muslims, particularly in the Caucasus and along Russia’s southern border. Russia will also be a factor in the equilibrium of Asia."

"For the first 500 years of its existence, Russia did not have a coat of arms, or a national flag or anthem."

"If Russia and NATO cooperate, who are they going to be against? There used to be two systems, two military blocs. One system collapsed. Its military bloc collapsed. And the other part remains in perfect operating order. That beautiful NATO bloc was first aimed at the Soviet Union, and it would be a pity to abandon it. So, now it is re-aimed at Russia."

"Russia must be loved, not because you want to. Russia is like gangrene on the leg. If you don't take measures against it, it will infect the whole leg."

"We are standing on one-sixth of the world, a rich country, with our pants down and hoping someone will help us."

"If I see that the Russians are amassing their planes for an attack, I'm going to knock the shit out of them before they take off the ground."

"Farewell, unwashed Russia, Land of slaves, land of masters, And you, blue uniforms, And you, people, devoted to them. Perhaps beyond the wall of the Caucasus, I will hide from your pashas, From their all-seeing eye, From their all-hearing ears."

"The Autocrat of all the Russias will resign his crown, and proclaim his subjects free republicans sooner than will our American masters voluntarily give up their slaves."

"As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be take pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy."

"How did it happen? We saw it come about in front of our very eyes. All intermediate social links, such as the family, one's circle of friends, class, society itself-each abruptly disappeared, leaving every one of us to stand alone before the mysterious force embodied in the State, with its powers of life and death. In ordinary parlance, this was summed up in the word "Lubianka." If what we have seen in this country is only a process taking place throughout Europe, then it must be said that we have demonstrated the sickness of the age in a form so acute and unadulterated as to merit special study in any search for the prevention and cure of it. In an age when the main cry is "Every man for himself," the personality is doomed."

"Only in Russia poetry is respected – it gets people killed. Is there anywhere else where poetry is so common a motive for murder?"

"...while the Russians adopted Byzantine religion they did not adopt Byzantine civilisation. They acquired a rich heritage, but their timidity led them to bury the talent in the ground."

"It's the principle of... freedom is better than non-freedom. These words are the quintessence of the human experience. Original: Это принцип "свобода лучше, чем несвобода". Эти слова - квинтэссенция человеческого опыта."

"From the southern seas to the polar lands. Spread are our forests and fields. You are unique in the world, one of a kind. This native land protected by God!"

"I hate to say it [...] but, after the novelty wore off, I had this cliché moment of a Russian émigré abroad: I really missed black bread. I know it’s stupid, but I really missed it."

"A cocktail of patriotism, chauvinism, imperialism could for some time replace many essential nutrients for Russians. Like how for alcoholics vodka replaces everything, including toothpaste. Original: Коктейль из патриотизма, шовинизма, империализма на какое-то время может заменить россиянам многие необходимые питательные вещества. Как алкоголикам водка заменяет все, включая зубную пасту."

"It is clear that if Putin converts to Buddhism tomorrow, they will fill wastebaskets in their luxurious offices with all these icons, draw a scarlet spot between their eyebrows and sing “Om mani padme hum”. Original: Понятно, что если завтра Путин примет буддизм, то они всеми этими иконками набьют мусорные корзины в своих роскошных кабинетах, нарисуют себе алое пятно между бровями и будут петь «Ом мани падме хум»."

"If a person wants to be the king of the Papuans, then he is doomed to stick large feathers into his head, wear necklaces from the largest shells and dance certain dances the fastest of all. Original: Если человек хочет быть королём папуасов, то он обречён втыкать себе в голову большие перья, одевать ожерелья из самых больших ракушек и резвее всех танцевать определённые танцы."

"In that Czarist Russia, Jewish girls were not taught even to read and write. It took (my mother) becoming a revolutionary and joining the Bund, the Jewish Bund, a socialist organization, to learn to read and love books."

"How likely is doomsday? Well back to Ukraine, regarding which, on December 1, Russian President Putin asked the west for legal guarantees that it would cease eastward expansion. This request, made because Washington’s word is worthless (vide just for starters, the Iran nuclear pact, and President George H.W. Bush’s promise that NATO would never, ho, ho, expand to Russia’s borders) and met with scoffs by the white house, comes amid complicated tensions. The Kiev military recently claimed it used Turkish attack drones “in combat against ethnic Russian rebels,” Finian Cunningham reported October 28 in Information Clearing House. This is not good. Turkey is in NATO. If Turkey gets tangled up in the Ukraine imbroglio, that substantially escalates things. According to Anatol Lieven in Responsible Statecraft on November 24, “Moscow is especially alarmed by Ukraine’s acquisition of Turkish Bayraktar combat drones,” used to such deadly effect by Azerbaijan in its 2020 conquest of Armenian territory. Unlike the F-35, these things actually work."

"Russian is very dear to me because it’s a family language, but I am Jewish-Russian, which is a little different from Russian-Russian. My family ran away in 1905 from the Russian-Russians."

"They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."

"In Russia, history is something that, you know, used to be rewritten every five years. It's written once again, and it's just a game."

"Russia is not corrupt. Corruption is what happens in all countries when businessmen offer officials large bribes for favors. Today’s Russia is unique. The businessmen, the politicians, and the bureaucrats are the same people. They have privatized the country’s wealth and taken control of its financial flows."

"My heroes are those people who want to be individuals but are being forced to be cogs again. In an Empire there are only cogs."

"The Russian people will suffer a blow, it will leave the cities for fields, forests ... It will pick mushrooms, berries, nuts - the Russian people is ready in a moment of great sorrow to turn into a chipmunk people, a hamster people, it will store up for the winter all sorts of roots, all sorts of onions. Original: Русский народ перебьётся, он уйдёт из городов в поля, в леса... Будет собирать грибы, ягоды, орехи — русский народ готов в минуту больших печалей превратиться в народ-бурундук, народ-хомяк, он будет запасать на зиму всякие корешки, всякие луковки."

"We can only pity the Poles. We are too powerful to hate them, the war that will break out will be a war of extermination – or at least it should be. Original: Nous ne pouvons que plaindre les Polonais. Nous sommes trop puissants pour les haïr, la guerre qui va s’ouvrir sera une guerre d’extermination — ou du moins devrait l’être."

"Try to tell a Russian housewife, who trudges miles on foot in sub-zero weather in order to spend hours standing in line at a state store dispensing food rations, that America is defiled by shopping centers, expressways and family cars."

"Rule of law is not consistent with state-sponsored brutality. When the Russian government attacks civilians in Chechnya, killing innocents without discrimination or accountability, neglecting orphans and refugees, it can no longer expect aid from international lending institutions. Moscow needs to operate with civilized self-restraint."

"Look at Russia. They keep trying help each other out, extend a hand to a neighbor, and guess what? Every ten years, some one is invading, burning down their homes and taking their toilet paper. Napoleon, Stalin, Attila the Hun, all of them. After you read my book you will understand. I may have been born in the see, but I'm no dummy!"

"All of this self-serving is driving America and its vassals to war with Russia, which might also mean with China. The war would be nuclear and be the end of the West, an act of self-genocide. The US national security establishment is so crazed that Trump’s efforts to get off the war track and onto a peace track are characterized as treason and a threat to US national security."

"The Russians are aware that the accusations and demonization that they experience are fabrications. They no longer see the problem as one of misunderstandings that diplomacy can overcome. What they see now is the West preparing its populations for war. It is this perception for which the West is solely responsible that makes the situation today far more dangerous than it ever was during the long Cold War."

"​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."

"I’ve been taught to hate the Russians/All through my whole life/If another war comes/It’s them we must fight/To hate them and fear them/To run and to hide/And accept it all bravely/With God on my side"