58  Nazis in Russia!

Abstract

Did you know that there are far more Nazis in Russia than in Ukraine? There is a lot to denazify in Russia.

Myth

Russia fights Nazis abroad

Search for topic in EUvsDisinfo

Truth

Russia projects the ruscist version of its age-old chronic fascism onto its opponents to disguise its motives and “justify” its aggression

The journalist, publicist, writer, political analyst, television presenter and radio commentator Vitaly Portnikov has managed to summarize Russian fascism in a single sentence:

Every Russian living today feels like a human being as long as Ukrainians are being killed, and when the war is over, he will feel like a slave. — Vitaly Portnikov (22.05.2025)1

Source: ImgFlip

Source: ImgFlip

58.1 Projected Nazis

Every russian accusation is a confession. Russian propaganda defames all opponents as “Nazis”, but in fact the russian system is a century old chronic form of fascism that is better termed “ruscism”. Calling Ukraininan “Nazis” is ridiculous, since right-wing parties got less than 3% in the last elections see Chapter 55. Those Germans who believe Russian propaganda and vote for a far-right party (~20%, ~50% in East Germany) should be very careful and read this: Chapter 54.

58.2 Fascist Manifest

If you google fascist manifesto Ria Novosti, you will find the infamous text by Russian fascist Timofey Sergeytsev, officially published by the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti: “What Russia should do with Ukraine”. The text calls not “only” for the demilitarization of Ukraine (making it militarily helpless) but also for the “denazification” of Ukraine, and explains what it means by this:

Denazification will inevitably result in de-Ukrainization2

Fascist Sergeytsev demands the cleansing of Ukraine of everything Ukrainian, of Ukrainians who defend their fatherland, of Ukrainians who see themselves as Ukrainians, of Ukrainian language and culture, even the word “Ukraine” should be eradicated. Ria Novosti is asking for cold-blooded mass-genocide, see Chapter 40 and Chapter 41. Russia has a long tradition of comitting genocide, see Chapter 39 and even the definition of the term ‘genocide’ goes back to russian genocides, see Chapter 38.

58.3 Timothy Snyder

The renowned Eastern-Europe historian Timothy Snyder concluded on May 19, 2022 in the New York times: “We Should Say It. Russia Is Fascist.”3

It was only on the battlefields of World War II that fascism was defeated. Now it’s back — and this time, the country fighting a fascist war of destruction is Russia. Should Russia win, fascists around the world will be comforted. We err in limiting our fears of fascism to a certain image of Hitler and the Holocaust. Fascism was Italian in origin, popular in Romania — where fascists were Orthodox Christians who dreamed of cleansing violence — and had adherents throughout Europe (and America). In all its varieties, it was about the triumph of will over reason.
…
Under Stalin, fascism was first indifferent, then it was bad, then it was fine until — when Hitler betrayed Stalin and Germany invaded the Soviet Union — it was bad again.
…
Soviet anti-fascism, in other words, was a politics of us and them … In the Russia of the 21st century, “anti-fascism” simply became the right of a Russian leader to define national enemies. Actual Russian fascists, such as Aleksandr Dugin and Aleksandr Prokhanov, were given time in mass media. And Mr. Putin himself has drawn on the work of the interwar Russian fascist Ivan Ilyin.
…
A time traveler from the 1930s would have no difficulty identifying the Putin regime as fascist. The symbol Z, the rallies, the propaganda, the war as a cleansing act of violence and the death pits around Ukrainian towns make it all very plain. The war against Ukraine is not only a return to the traditional fascist battleground, but also a return to traditional fascist language and practice. Other people are there to be colonized. Russia is innocent because of its ancient past. The existence of Ukraine is an international conspiracy. War is the answer.
…
Had Ukraine not resisted, this would have been a dark spring for democrats around the world. If Ukraine does not win, we can expect decades of darkness.

Three days later, on May 22nd 2022, Timothy Snyder postet 11 statements on X (twitter):

  1. The people who told you that fascism was not a threat were wrong.

  2. The people who told you that Russia was not fascist were, if possible, more wrong.

  3. Fascism is might over right, conspiracy over reality, fiction over fact, pain over law, blood over love, doom over hope.

  4. Fascism advances every injustice. Its victory will leave us serfs of a vengeful nature, of relentless technology, and of unquestionable oligarchy.

  5. Analytic clarity is needed for political clarity. If you do not know what you face, you do not know how to act.

  6. Once named, fascism can be defeated. Indeed, once named it can be easily defeated.

  7. Russian fascism must lose on the battlefield. Americans can bring this about by supporting courageous Ukrainians.

  8. American fascism must lose at the ballot box. Americans can bring this about by organizing, canvassing, phone banking, donating, and voting.

  9. We know from history that fascism can lose. And we know today the contests that must be won.

  10. Compared to challenges that others face around the world, our odds in 2024 and 2025 are excellent. Americans have chances, not excuses.

  11. A defeat of fascism is not a negation. It is an affirmation: of a future that can be more beautiful, more just, and more free.

If a renowned historian and fascism expert like Timothy Snyder is diagnosing Russia as fascist, it is to be expected, that russian propaganda is trying to defame him and his diagnosis. Russia’s propaganda answer was given by Marlene Laruelle, the “Director, Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies” of “PONARS Eurasia”, an institution that has russian propaganda.word “Eurasia” in his name and which seems to have the purpose, to throw dust in the eyes of the West, as becomes clear when one analyzes their publications before4 and after5 the russian full scale invasion. As expected Laruelle tries to defame Snyder referring to his earlier diagnosis of fascism:

In an article from March 20, 2014, he compared Russia’s take-over of the Crimean peninsula—which had occurred just a few days earlier—and the swiftly brewing conflict in Donbas with Nazi Germany’s actions on the eve of the Second World War. Yet unlike Andreas Umland, who has drawn a similar analogy, Snyder has made no attempt to undertake a solid study that would juxtapose the legal arguments used for the Anschluss with Austria or Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland with those made by Putin for the annexation of Crimea.6

Wait a moment: if Andreas Umland has come to the same conclusion, why was it wrong, what Snyder said? Exactly: because Putin doesn’t like it. Laruelle continues and cites Putin as if he were a credible source of information. Nice try. Is that “testing the ‘fascism’ hypothesis using scholarly tools”? Nope. Laruelle, in her — not peer-reviewed — “publication” defends that Putin sponsors European far-right parties: those would not qualify as fascist. Really? The German domestic intelligence services has just classified the far-right AfD as “anti-constitutional” exterme-right.7 German justice has ruled that AfD Leader Björn Höcke may be named rightfully as ‘fascist’8 and even ‘Nazi’9. Calling him a ‘Nazi’

was not a punishable insult, but a “value judgment based on facts”.

If Laruelle continues to insinuate that Russia-friendly Hungary is taking an “anti-Russian stance”, her “criticism” is obviously ridiculous. That should be enough to make it clear: PONARS Eurasia spreads pro-russian propaganda, and Laruelle’s effort proves that Snyder has a point. Anyhow, let’s test the fascism hypothesis ourselves:

58.4 Umberto Eco’s Criteria

Umberto Eco, knowing Mussolini’s fascism very well, published a text called “ur-fascism” with 14 criteria for fascism:10 Eco explains, that fascism has many faces:

There was only one Nazism. We cannot label Franco’s hyper-Catholic Falangism as Nazism, since Nazism is fundamentally pagan, polytheistic, and anti-Christian. But the fascist game can be played in many forms, and the name of the game does not change.

Fascism became an all-purpose term because one can eliminate from a fascist regime one or more features, and it will still be recognizable as fascist. Take away imperialism from fascism and you still have Franco and Salazar. Take away colonialism and you still have the Balkan fascism of the Ustashes.

But in spite of this fuzziness, I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism.

the opposition leaders … were assassinated; the free press was abolished, the labor unions were dismantled, and political dissenters were confined on remote islands. Legislative power became a mere fiction and the executive power (which controlled the judiciary as well as the mass media) directly issued new laws

Eco explains that there are systems worse than fascism:

If by totalitarianism one means a regime that subordinates every act of the individual to the state and to its ideology, then both Nazism and Stalinism were true totalitarian regimes. Italian fascism was certainly a dictatorship, but it was not totally totalitarian, not because of its mildness but rather because of the philosophical weakness of its ideology … Mussolini did not have any philosophy: he had only rhetoric … Italian fascism was the first to establish a military liturgy, a folklore, even a way of dressing … Fascism was a fuzzy totalitarianism.

The foreign policy experts of the Pirate party, who organize the Pirate Security Conference as a side event to the Munich Security Conference, came to the conclusion:

The result is surprising: using objective criteria, there are surprisingly many indications that Putin’s Russia is a fascist-run state.11

Nestor Barchuk, International Relations Manager of the DEJURE Foundation, has also evaluated all 14 of Eco’s criteria and came to conclude, that Russia is fascist:

Now the world is facing a new historical challenge — to «deruscify» Russia. Otherwise, ruscism will not disappear. No matter how much Ukrainians and the West want to end the war ASAP, ruscism requires a much more comprehensive solution than arms supplies, financial aid or a post-war reconstruction plan for Ukraine. Western support will undoubtedly help Ukrainians defeat Russia on the battlefield. However, if Russia’s «deruscification» is not carried out, a countdown to Russia’s next war of aggression to restore former greatness and punish enemies will start.12

Here follows a table comparing fascism and ruscism along Eco’s 14 criteria together with some evidence (for an evaluation of the “Russki Mir” ideology see Chapter 57):

No. Title Fascism Ruscism
1 Cult of tradition Fascism glorifies a mythical past, blending selective historical narratives into an eternal truth. Russkij mir13 is Russia’s centuries-old project of annexing neighboring countries and Eurasianism14 spells out the russian goal to conquer all of Europe. Putin glorifies Russias past – including mass-murderer Stalin - and „justifies“ his actions by cherry pickingly refer to „big names“15
2 Irrationalism Fascism rejects Enlightenment rationalism and progress, favoring irrationalism, but can embrace technical modernism (e.g., Nazi gas chambers) for ideological goals. Russia is anti-enlightenment16 17 and anti-science18
3 Cult of Action Fascism prioritizes action for actions sake, viewing thinking and culture as weakness and glorifying decisive, often violent, action. Regarding the war Putin said he‘d be „too ‚bored‘ without a little action“19. Russia bombs suppresses thinking and culture in Russia and bombs intellectual and cultural institutions in the region of Kyiv Rus’, see Chapter 101.
4 Loyalty Fascism equates dissent with treason, suppressing critical voices to enforce conformity: submit, praise, obey. People not being loyal fall out of windows, are served poisened tea. Even using the word „war“20 or holding an empty paper21 brings you to jail.
5 Group Homogeneity Fascism requires group uniformity, portrays diversity, outsiders and the „others“ as the enemy: xenophobia, racism, antisemitism. Russia routinely favours group uniformity and racism see Chapter 56.
6 Individual Frustration Fascism exploits the economic or social frustrations of the individual and channels dissatisfaction into aggression and nationalism, turning the perceived humiliation and inferiority into a superhuman. Russia‘s economy is inefficient and unfair, Russians prefer to steal or destroy the standard of living elsewhere instead of producing it themselves. Putin‘s proaganda blames „the West“ and minorities, particularly in ethnic minority regions far from Moscow, see Chapter 80 and Chapter 81.
7 Aggressive Nationalism Fascism relies on narratives of national superiority under constant threat from conspiring enemies: Xenophobia, Anti-semitism, the „other“ becomes the Untermensch. Putin‘s propaganda tells his people, that „Western rotten values“ would threaten Russia‘s orthodox values, see Chapter 82, the NATO defense alliance would conspire with Ukraine to attack Russia, see Chapter 53 and Chapter 51. This has a long russian tradition in the worst propaganda ever: „Protocols of the Elders of Zion“, see Chapter 56.
8 Paradox Enemies Fascism depicts enemies as formidable yet inferior, both fearsome and easy to overwhelm. At the same time of justifying the war with NATO threat, russian proaganda phantasizes about nuking NATO capitals, see Chapter 65
9 Eternal Fight Fascism views life as permanent warfare, where peace is weakness and war is glorified and pacifism is treason. Russians largely favor war over pacifism, driven by propaganda, militaristic culture, and pragmatic conformism, with 60–75% supporting the Ukraine conflict. Pacifism, while historically present, is marginal, equated with weakness, and suppressed by the state. 22 23 24 . Putin has used internal Russian terror and the external terror war to secure his power from the very beginning. After a million victims, Putin cannot survive if he loses the war, but Russia cannot win this war either, so Putin wants eternal war and terror.25 26
10 Mass Elitism Fascism glorifies strength and despises perceived weakness in individuals or nations. Kiss up kill down. Putin is staging himself as a strong man and dehumanizing his opponents in the style of Hitler and Stalin, threatening to spit out scum and traitors like a gnat that has accidentally flown into your mouth 27 28.
11 Heroism Fascism romanticizes heroic sacrifice and death for the cause, idealizing martyrdom. Fascism educates for heroic life and heroic death Putin’s Idealization of Death Reflects Russia’s Growing Nazification.29 The Kremlin makes Heroism and Idealization of Death a central theme of Russian cultural policy, reviving Soviet-era controls over art through creative unions and ideological requirements for state-funded projects.30
12 Machismo Fascism emphasizes hyper-masculinity, aggression, and disdain for non-conformist gender roles. Psycholocially, power is replaced by stereotypical potence, which is in turn replaced by weapons. Putin is staging himself as a strong man. A picture says more than a thousand words, and a dozen pictures explain the man.31 32. Women are decoration, not humans.33, Homophobia blossoms and persecuting ‘non-traditional sexual relations’ is presented as natural defense of traditional values 34
13 Selective Populism Fascism claims to represent the “true people,” the leader pretends to read the will of the people, people play the people like leader expects. In Russia, the “will of the people” was invoked to justify terrorism,35, facism and anti-semitism36. Stalin declared russian occupation of Poland to be the „will of the Polish people“.37 Russian propaganda glorified Stalin: „He had a deep sense of what I can only call the will of the people, he had matchless technique in releasing that will in action … his action carried mankind forward to a better day“.[^nazis-russia-48]. Stalin is again glorified by contemporary Russian propaganda: „Never before has a man carried so high the aspiration for freedom, for the peace and self-determination of the oppressed peoples than Joseph Stalin. His unconditional devotion to the emancipation of the mankind, his ability to mobilise an entire nation to advance towards modernity and to stand up against the odious beast of fascism make him one of the greatest leaders in human history“38. Putin made similar references to the will of the people39 40 and people’s sovereignty in order to justify changes to the constitution which ran counter to the letter and spirit of the original text: „when authoritarianism became stronger and more personalized between 2012 and 2020, authoritarianism finally prevailed over constitutionalism“.41.
14 Newspeak Fascism simplifies language to limit critical thinking, using slogans and neologisms, speak the opposite, destroy meaning, exert power with double bind.# Official Kremlin communications destroys all meaning in communication by using 1984-style Orwellian language such as „totalitarian liberalism“.42 Cold-blooded lies are typcial for Sergei Lavrov 43 and Putin44.

Twenty days after Vladimir Putin took over the presidency from Boris Yeltsin, Russian journalist and expert on Russian politics, Andrey Kolesnikov, compared Putin with Mussolini.45 In

Putin in an Orwellian way has divided the citizens of Russia into clean and unclean — Andrey Kolesnikov (2022)46

In March 2023 Michael Khodarkovsky called the soviet union ‘fascist’, he needs to know.47

58.5 Fascist crimes

Regardless of which theoretical criteria for fascism we examine, in the end, actions count more than words: What did Hitler do, what did Stalin do, what is Putin doing?

Feature Mussolini Hitler Stalin Putin
Corruption yes yes yes yes
Lawlessness and tyranny yes yes yes yes
Democracy overturned yes yes yes fake democracy
Deportation yes yes yes yes
Stealing children (unknown) yes48 yes49 50 yes51
Killing opponents yes yes yes yes
Fascination Bloodbath52 yes yes yes yes
Mass killings yes yes yes yes
Mass rape yes yes yes yes
Mass torture yes yes yes yes
Foced labor yes yes yes yes
Camps KZ KZ Gulag Gulag
Antisemitism late yes yes yes
Racism yes yes yes yes
Genocide yes yes yes yes
Ethnocide yes yes yes yes
Urbicide yes yes yes yes
Ecocide no yes yes yes
War yes yes yes yes
War crimes yes yes yes yes

This table speaks a clear language: the ruscist regime is fascist.

58.6 Masked Fascism

Ruscism has perfected the 14th criterion of Umberto Eco: lying and confusing with disinformation. Take death penalty: officially Russia has no death penalty. But everyone knows, that Russia has inofficial death penalty: people are sent to the front as cannon-fodder, people fall out of windows, people drink tea. Russia even kills opponents abroad. Shoots them, poisens them etc. Russia fakes having no death-penalty, Russia fakes courts, Russia fakes elections, Russia fakes defending itself, Russia fakes not being fascist, Russia blames its fascism on others. Russia is lying. All the time.

58.7 See also

See also Chapter 56, Chapter 57, Section 12.5 and Section 81.5.

“spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths”53

[^nazis-russia-48] Anna Louise Strong (January 1, 1956). The Stalin Era. January 1, 1976 by British and Irish Communist Organization. https://www.bannedthought.net/Journalists/Strong-AL/Strong-TheStalinEra-1956-OCR.pdf

  1. Vitaly Portnikov (22.05.2025) Ein Wahnsinniger und ein Impotenter. https://uebersetzungenzuukraine.data.blog/2025/05/23/ein-wahnsinniger-und-ein-impotenter-vitaly-portnikov-gvlua-22-05-2025/↩︎

  2. Timofey Sergeytsev (2022, April, 3). “What Russia should do with Ukraine”. Translated in New voice of Ukraine: From the archives: Kremlin’s mouthpiece RIA publishes Russian fascist manifesto.↩︎

  3. Timothy Snyder (May 19, 2022) We Should Say It. Russia Is Fascist. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/opinion/russia-fascism-ukraine-putin.html↩︎

  4. Peter Rutland (February 14, 2022) Breaking Ranks? Signs of Unease in Russian Military Circles https://www.ponarseurasia.org/breaking-ranks-signs-of-unease-in-russian-military-circles/↩︎

  5. Kimberly Marten (March 9, 2022) President Putin’s Rationality and Escalation in Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. https://www.ponarseurasia.org/president-putins-rationality-and-escalation-in-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/↩︎

  6. Marlene Laruelle (September 5, 2018) Is Russia Really “Fascist”? A Comment on Timothy Snyder. https://www.ponarseurasia.org/is-russia-really-fascist-a-comment-on-timothy-snyder/↩︎

  7. AfD classified as extreme-right by German intelligence (2025-05-02) BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy6zk9wkrdo↩︎

  8. Gerichtsbeschluss: Björn Höcke darf als “Faschist” bezeichnet werden. (28.09.2019) Der Spiegel. https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bjoern-hoecke-darf-als-faschist-bezeichnet-werden-gerichtsurteil-zu-eisenach-a-1289131.html↩︎

  9. Staatsanwaltschaft: Frankfurt Demonstranten dürfen Björn Höcke als “Nazi” bezeichnen. (04.07.23) hessenschau. https://www.hessenschau.de/politik/demonstranten-duerfen-afd-politiker-bjoern-hoecke-als-nazi-bezeichnen-v1,ermittlungen-hoecke-ist-ein-nazi-eingesellt-100.html↩︎

  10. Umberto Eco (1995) Ur-Fascism. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism↩︎

  11. Ruschismus – Sitzen die wahren Faschisten in Moskau? (29. Mai 2022) https://aussenpolitik.piratenpartei.de/2022/05/29/ruschismus-sitzen-die-wahren-faschisten-in-moskau/↩︎

  12. Nestor Barchuk (September 9, 2022) The most comprehensive answer to the question: is Russia a fascist state? The New Voice of Ukraine. https://english.nv.ua/opinion/the-most-comprehensive-answer-to-the-question-is-russia-a-fascist-state-50268926.html↩︎

  13. Oleksandr Zabirko (15.06.2023) Russkij mir Vom kulturellen Konzept zur geopolitischen Ersatzideologie. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. https://www.bpb.de/themen/europa/russland/522375/russkij-mir/↩︎

  14. Sarah Dixon Klump (July 7, 2011) Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/russian-eurasianism-ideology-empire↩︎

  15. Alexander Nevsky (1221, 1263) , Peter the Great (1672, 1725) , Catherine the Great (1729, 1796) , Tsar Alexander III (1845, 1894), Vladimir Solovyov (1853, 1900), Tsar Nicholas II (1868, 1918), Vladimir Lenin (1870, 1924), Nikolai Berdyaev (1874, 1948), Joseph Stalin (1878, 1953), Ivan Ilyin (1883, 1954), Lev Gumilyov (1912, 1992), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918, 2008) and Aleksandr Dugin (1962, still alive as of May 16, 2025).↩︎

  16. No you Kant: Russians reject German thinker’s name for airport (4 December 2018) BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46440713↩︎

  17. Tino Künzel (18 Feb 2018) Kant: Plötzlich fremd in der eigenen Stadt. Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung. https://mdz-moskau.eu/kant-fremd-in-der-eigenen-stadt/↩︎

  18. Jack A. Jarmon (08 Oct 2024). Scientists in Russia: Repressed, Imprisoned, in Exile, and “Out of the Game”. Australian Outlokk. Australian Institute of International Affairs. https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/scientists-in-russia-repressed-imprisoned-in-exile-and-out-of-the-game/↩︎

  19. Putin calls war ‘thrill,’ claims Russia prefers action over stability (December 19, 2024). the New Voice of Ukraine. https://english.nv.ua/nation/russia-s-path-conflict-as-an-economic-imperative-says-putin-50475486.html↩︎

  20. Boris Epchiev (26.5.2023) TAZ. https://taz.de/Pressefreiheit-in-Russland/!5933479/↩︎

  21. Christina Nagel (08.06.2023) ARD Moskau Prozess gegen Co-Chef von Memorial “Es gibt Dinge, die musst du einfach tun”. ARD Tagesschau. https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/russland-prozess-orlow-memorial-100.html↩︎

  22. Grok (2025-05-11) https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1921538405881577774/↩︎

  23. Sergei Sorokin (20 August 2014) Pacifism and patriotism in Russia. openDemocracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/pacifism-and-patriotism-in-russia/↩︎

  24. Ivan Preobrazhensky (20 April 2018) Pacifism in Russia: Is there any potential for an anti-war movement in Russia? Riddle. https://ridl.io/pacifism-in-russia/↩︎

  25. Grigori Judin & Margarita Ljutowa (24.02.2023) Dieser Krieg wird nie aufhören. Meduza. https://www.dekoder.org/de/article/krieg-ukraine-judin-ziel-putin-analyse↩︎

  26. Grigori Judin & Margarita Ljutowa (24.02.2023) ‘Russia ends nowhere,’ they say Sociologist Grigory Yudin discusses a year of war and what comes next. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/02/25/russia-ends-nowhere-they-say↩︎

  27. Putin likens opponents to ‘gnats,’ signaling new repression. (18.03.2022) PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/putin-likens-opponents-to-gnats-signaling-new-repression↩︎

  28. Putin (17.03.2022) Aggressive Putin-Rede »Man spuckt sie aus wie eine Mücke«. Der Spiegel. https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/ukrainekrieg-putins-rede-sie-haben-nur-ein-ziel-die-zerstoerung-russlands-a-a0164502-ca93-41b2-9239-a78712f95248↩︎

  29. Svetlana Stephenson (Dec. 21, 2022) Putin’s Idealization of Death Reflects Russia’s Growing Nazification. The Moscow times. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/21/putins-idealization-of-death-reflects-russias-growing-nazification-a79763.↩︎

  30. ‘Everything from love to heroic death’ The Kremlin’s new cultural policy puts the war against Ukraine front and center in Russian art. Meduza. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/07/24/everything-from-love-to-heroic-death↩︎

  31. The macho pursuits of Russian President Vladimir Putin (October 2014) ABC news. https://abcnews.go.com/International/photos/russias-president-vladimir-putin-19690713↩︎

  32. Vladimir Putin: Russia’s action man president, in pictures (December 2020) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/vladimir-putin-russias-action-man-president-in-pictures/↩︎

  33. Bizarre Inszenierung: Putin besucht Flugbegleiterinnen (6.3.2022) DER SPIEGEL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzcChkP0J-0↩︎

  34. Graeme Reid (May 17, 2023) Russia, Homophobia and the Battle for ‘Traditional Values’. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/17/russia-homophobia-and-battle-traditional-values↩︎

  35. Narodnaya Volya (accessed May 2025) Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narodnaya_Volya↩︎

  36. People’s Will Army (accessed May 2025) Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Will_Army↩︎

  37. J. V. Stalin (1945) No. 381: PERSONAL AND SECRET FROM PREMIER J. V. STALIN TO THE PRIME MINISTER, Mr W. CHURCHILL. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/correspondence/01/45.htm↩︎

  38. Red Youth History, USSR (18th December 2020) Stalin and the Will of the People: https://redyouth.org/history-2/stalin-and-the-will-of-the-people/↩︎

  39. Jure Vidmar (06 March 2019) The Annexation of Crimea and the Boundaries of the Will of the People. German Law Journal. 16(3):365-383. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/german-law-journal/article/annexation-of-crimea-and-the-boundaries-of-the-will-of-the-people/757FF248391D67D5709A0189F3E4BBC9↩︎

  40. Iryna Balachuk (19 May 2022) Kremlin wants to “listen to the will” of the people of Ukraine’s occupied territories. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/05/19/7347204/↩︎

  41. Caroline von Gall (08 February 2024) Regime Adaptation Within Russia’s Judicial Elites: The Case of Valery Zorkin. Verfassungsblog. https://verfassungsblog.de/regime-adaptation-within-russias-judicial-elites/↩︎

  42. Sergei Naryshkin (2025-05-16) Naryshkin: today “both strength and truth” are more than ever on the side of the Russian Federation. TASS. https://tass.ru/politika/23959897↩︎

  43. „We have absolutely no intention of, or interest in, crossing Ukraine’s borders“ (to hide that russia plans it), „Russia is doing all it can to promote early stabilisation in Ukraine“ (just the opposite), „The attempts to distort the truth and to hide the facts behind blanket accusations have been undertaken at all stages of the Ukrainian crisis“ (Yes, by him), „Humanitarian issues must bring together all people who act in good faith trying to alleviate the suffering of people in dire need - especially women, children and the elderly“ (see Chapter 96) https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/sergei-lavrov-quotes↩︎

  44. „The democratic choice Russian people made in the early 90’s is final“ (not even Putin‘s first „election“ was democratic), „Russia does not want confrontation of any kind. And we will not take part in any kind of ‘holy alliance.’“ (except for an alliance with Iran, North Korea and China). https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/vladimir_putin_452525↩︎

  45. Andrei Kolesnikov (visited May 2025) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Kolesnikov_(journalist,_1965)↩︎

  46. Andrei Kolesnikov (2022-03-16) Putin in an Orwellian way has divided the citizens of Russia into clean and unclean. Post on X. https://x.com/AndrKolesnikov/status/1504117391764164611↩︎

  47. Michael Khodarkovsky (24.03.2023) Warum wir der Ukraine dankbar sein müssen. NZZ. https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/warum-wir-der-ukraine-dankbar-sein-muessen-ld.1728240↩︎

  48. Uprooted – (Hi)Stories of Stolen Children during World War II. (2022) Project funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF). https://www.kreisau.de/fileadmin/kreisau/Publikationen_und_Bildungsmaterialien/Uprooted.__Hi_stories_of_stolen_children_Kreisau-Initiative.pdf↩︎

  49. Kelly Hignett (June 2012) ‘The Littlest Enemies’: Children of the Stalinist Era. Leeds Beckett University. https://thevieweast.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/the-littlest-enemies-children-of-the-stalinist-era/↩︎

  50. Orphans in the Soviet Union (accessed May 2025) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphans_in_the_Soviet_Union↩︎

  51. Clementine Fujimura (July 6, 2023) Russia’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children is not unique – Putin and others have long used children as political pawns. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/russias-kidnapping-of-ukrainian-children-is-not-unique-putin-and-others-have-long-used-children-as-political-pawns-208330↩︎

  52. see Section 12.5↩︎

  53. Roger Cohen (March 26, 2022) The Making of Vladimir Putin. Tracing Putin’s 22-year slide from statesman to tyrant. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/26/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia.html↩︎