Letters from Russia | The war changed Russia, but xenophobia remains

in Russia in housing ads you often see the inscription: “only for Slavs”. Nobody sees anything strange here. In Russia, racism is so commonplace that it is not frowned upon at all.

Last year, my acquaintances had a hysterical fit when their daughter was going to marry a Dagestani doctor. Dagestan is one of the republics of the Caucasus, the majority of whose inhabitants are Muslims.

In cases it’s about the fear of the stranger, xenophobia. It has always lived strong in Russia. And often it erupts as xenophobia.

Even before the war, in 2019, according to a survey by the Levada Center, 71 percent of Russians would have liked to limit the residence of some ethnic group in the country.

The majority of Russians have no experience with other nationalities. Russians fear that “they” are different from “us”.

“If a person has been abroad even a couple of times, he thinks ten times – is it true that, for example, in France, everyone is a sodomite? And do they really want to conquer us?” says the St. Petersburg sociologist Angelina Sidorova.

Sidorova calls Russian xenophobia “home xenophobia” or “kitchen xenophobia”. Racism is so commonplace that it doesn’t even come up as a question in politics.

There have been nationalist and racist parties in Russia. But they did not achieve success even when Russia still held fairly fair elections.

The president knows how to use racism well enough Vladimir Putin.

I’m afraid incitement is advantageous for those in power. It makes it easier to control the people and instill in their minds ideas that benefit the Kremlin.

But xenophobia can get out of control.

The most famous Russian films are Alexey Balabanov the movie Brother (Brat). Every Russian has certainly seen it, usually more than once.

Many of the film’s quotes have turned into catchphrases. One of the most famous goes like this: “You are not my brother, you filthy snot.”

You still come across the phrase often. You hear it when a Russian wants to show the place of the closet to Caucasians, for example Chechens.

The film was released in 1997. The first Chechen war had ended a year earlier, and many Russians considered the Chechens enemies. The atmosphere was openly racist.

In 2023, Russian propaganda cannot operate this crudely. For 25 years, Russians have been able to see with their own eyes that people exactly like us live abroad.

However, Russian television feeds xenophobia and racism day after day.

Russian after invading Ukraine, I set myself a goal.

I’m going to refute the views of a hundred people who blindly believe in Russian television in the debate. I’m about halfway to my goal.

I have learned something important.

The direction of xenophobia in Russia has turned inward, that is, towards minority nationalities living in Russia.

At the gifted children’s camp in Sochi, the children greeted Yakutian children with the Nazi salute. So gifted children do Nazi salutes to show their attitude towards other gifted children because they look different – Yakuts are Asian in features.

Sure the state still supports hatred against Ukrainians. It is connected with the idea of ​​Russia’s special path and the “Russian world”.

The idea boils down to the fact that Russia is the last stronghold for “traditional values”. They are Christianity, goodness and justice. There are many enemies everywhere who want to destroy these values.

In particular, homosexuals and transgenders are given a special role in this “war”. Propaganda claims that they are being pushed into Russia so that Russia ceases to exist.

Such nonsense is also strongly supported by the Russian Orthodox Church. Isn’t this state xenophobia?

Ukraine allegedly promotes the values ​​of “Gay Europe”. And Russia treats Slavic peoples, especially Ukrainians, like little brothers.

We will protect them at all costs!

Even if they don’t ask us to!

If the little brother nations don’t welcome the defenders with hugs and flowers, it’s only because the enemies have messed with their heads.

The Kremlin however, the system has a weak point. When you feed racism and xenophobia enough, it can get out of control.

An example of this was seen at the end of October, when more than a thousand people occupied the airport in Makhachkala, Dagestan. The crowd tried to search for Jews among the passengers. The intention was clearly to organize a pogrom, a violent attack against the Jews.

The punishment for this in Russia is deliberately mild – only seven days of detention. At the same time, a message shared on the internet can result in seven years in prison.

Disproportionate punishments have an obvious consequence. They can lead to repeated pogroms because there is no fear of punishment.

The second consequence can be more dangerous. It may even lead to a wider conflict between Russian nationalities.

And now let’s get back to the movie Brother. I emphasize once again: the relationship of the Russians with the Chechens has always been, to put it mildly, complicated.

Russia is openly hostile towards Chechnya, but at the same time it is dependent on it.

“It is important for Putin that the Caucasus remains peaceful at any cost, even if human rights activists are cut and tortured there,” says one human rights activist from Nizhny Novgorod.

That is why today Chechnya lives on Russia’s open-minded supporters. In practice, Chechnya can live according to its own laws.

And that’s not all. Over the past two years, Russia has used the Chechen police as its special forces to intimidate, kidnap and beat political enemies.

For example, last year the Chechen police kidnapped a judge’s wife in Nizhny Novgorod, Zarema Musayeva. Then in Chechnya the reporter was assaulted Jelena Milašina.

Using the Chechen police is beneficial for the state.

“In return, the government gets another wave of hatred towards Chechens and Caucasians in general. People are not stupid, they see all this injustice and arbitrariness. In the end, this could erupt into pogroms in the Caucasus,” says the activist I interviewed.

Officially level, the state shouts about Russia’s unique multinationality. In practice, the culture of indigenous and minority peoples is preserved only thanks to enthusiastic enthusiasts. I have noticed this myself while traveling in Karelia.

At the beginning of November, the exhibition “Karelian mythology: ancient decrees” was opened in St. Petersburg.

The exhibition is partly based on Mikael Agricola to the documents. It presented the beliefs of the ancient Karelians, especially the Kekri Day celebration. Basically, kekri is the Karelian version of Halloween.

On the eve of the celebration, Orthodox activists accused the organizers of “satanic rituals” and demoralizing children. Fortunately, the exhibition was still not closed.

“The events are absurd. Conflicts often arise precisely because people do not know anything about their compatriots and neighbors and see evil where it does not exist and cannot exist,” said one of the organizers of the exhibition.

I feel that Russia is no longer a multicultural country.

It is a country where some peoples tolerate other peoples living there. Lately, this stamina has often seemed to be running out.

When the Kremlin flirts with Chechnya, it sets off a ticking time bomb.

In the Letters from Russia series, Mihail, who escaped from St. Petersburg, Jan from Moscow, and Ivan, who works in Karelia, Russia, write to Helsingin Sanomat. Their real names are not published for security reasons. Work as an independent journalist is a threat to authors, which can lead to arrest or imprisonment in Russia. Stories are compiled and information acquisition is also done in HS’s editorial office. Production and editing: Ville Similä / HS