Vladimir Putin likes to recall the former power of the Soviet Union. But not on the anniversary of its founding. There are reasons for that.
Munich – A historically significant anniversary: Friday (December 30) marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union. Whether this is a reason to celebrate is very much in the eye of the beholder. In Russia, a certain transfiguration seems to be covering up dark sides such as the Gulag and intermittent famines – as a recent survey suggests.
And yet a man who is quite inclined to share the Soviet legacy foregoes festivities: Vladimir Putin spoke with China’s strongman Xi Jinping on the anniversary. However, the Kremlin chief refrained from major events or even a national holiday. Although he likes to refer to the collapse of the Soviet empire as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”. Possibly because Russia’s ruler is caught in a somewhat bizarre conflict with Soviet history.
Putin as a hobby historian: fodder for Russia’s nostalgics, cold shoulders from the neighbors
As recently as Wednesday (December 28), Putin was directly involved with the legacy of the Soviet Union: he met government colleagues from the “Commonwealth of Independent States” in Saint Petersburg. The “CIS” consists of the successor states of the USSR – in 1992 a “national team” even competed under this title at the European Football Championship. In the meantime, the ties have partly loosened a lot. In the case of Ukraine, obviously. Putin failed with a symbolic action: According to reports, he distributed gold rings to the participants of the meeting – probably as a sign of the solidarity of the ex-Soviet states. But only Alexander Lukashenko, who is directly dependent on Russia, also infected the jewel.
In at least two respects, Putin would like to tie in with the Soviet era: with the expansion of Moscow’s fragile sphere of influence, of course – Putin wanted to restore the borders of the USSR was heard from Ukraine at the end of 2021. And when it comes to nostalgic feelings of Russians. Moscow has repeatedly reacted with outrage to the demolition of Soviet monuments in Eastern Europe.
The Russian opposition leader Leonid Volkov explains the phenomenon of Soviet nostalgia and Putin’s associated demonstrative affinity with historical pain: With the end of the Soviet Union, not only a political but also an economic lifeworld collapsed for the Russians. With a loud bang, “as a phase of economic chaos that threatens the very existence of the country, as well as political uncertainty.” Putin now likes to refer to the almost Soviet order that his regime is bringing, Volkov explains in his book “Putinland”.
A (non-representative) reader survey by the Russian newspaper makes this seem plausible Komsomolskaya on the anniversary: ”What does the Soviet Union mean to you?” was the question. Only two percent of the participants opted for the option “Gulag, censorship, poverty and the Iron Curtain”, as the BBC reported with astonishment. 60 percent chose “Large construction projects, victory and Yuri Gagarin”. The “victory” meant the Second World War and the fight against Nazi Germany – a historical milestone that the Kremlin apparently wants to use again and again in its favor with Nazi accusations against Kyiv in the Ukraine war.
Putin’s selective historiography: “heart” for Soviet Union, role models under Russia’s tsars
Putin likes to ignore other parts of Soviet history: the church, for example, which was deliberately marginalized and sometimes harassed under Soviet socialism, he uses as one of his main domestic allies – Biblical quotations or the talk of “hell” and “Satan” would have been unthinkable for the Soviets. Not to mention the “jihad” of Chechen loyalist Ramzan Kadyrov.
A tightrope act. Over the years, Putin maneuvered into a rather selective understanding of history: Anyone who does not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union has “no heart,” he said. Who wants to restore them “no brain”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov echoed this sentence on Friday.
“The Soviet Union is an integral part of our history.”
He also repeated another Putin point of view. “Russia didn’t start in 1917 or 1991,” Putin declared in 2012. “We have a single, uninterrupted history that stretches over 1,000 years.” Observers attested to the Kremlin boss in the war year 2022, Tsar Alexander III. to emulate – at the end of the 19th century he wanted to initiate an “epoch of Russian rebirth” and piety. And Ukraine “Russified” like that World noted.
Another point of reference for Putin far beyond the Soviet Union is Peter I. The tsar waged war to “take back and strengthen” regions, Putin said some time ago. What was not mentioned was that the costs of the fighting have plunged parts of the country into poverty. And the Kremlin boss apparently only wants to use the image of the Soviet Union in selected places. The more lecturers there are, the more pictures of the Soviet Union there are, said Peskov. He does not want to take part in debates. One thing is certain: “The Soviet Union is an integral part of our history.”
Putin and the Soviet Union – great power, but please without revolution
Putin studiously ignores one aspect of Soviet history: after all, the giant state had its nucleus in a revolution. 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Even then, the Kremlin refrained from celebrations. Instead, Putin presented himself to the Duma with a clear message, how the new Yorker reported: “We need the lessons of history above all to strengthen the social, political and civil society unity that we have achieved”: Soviet greatness yes, revolution no, that should mean.
In 2013, Putin had already formulated his own answer to the “problem” of the ambivalent Soviet history. “Too many times in our nation’s history have we seen opposition to Russia instead of opposition to the government,” he said at the time. “And we know how that ends. With the destruction of the entire state.” Who should be understood as the supreme keeper of the Russian nation was obvious. Listeners were allowed to feel reminded of the pain of losing the Soviet time. And the dubious promise of “order”.
It is not entirely unthinkable, however, that a problem of a Soviet type is brewing for Putin. In October, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon openly accused Putin of neglecting smaller countries in Moscow, as it did in Soviet times. The “CIS” does not seem to be in the mood for a new bond. At another summit in Uzbekistan, leaders kept Putin waiting at bilateral meetings. “Even the collapse of the Soviet Union could end up looking less important than Putin’s blunders,” Swedish diplomat Carl Bildt warned Putin almost exactly a year ago about an invasion of Ukraine. (fn)
Also interesting: Trittenwitz about the Soviet legacy: Why Ukraine still has electricity during the war – and why Putin has to worry
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