Originally published in Latvian on www.delfi.lv

Mārcis Balodis, researcher at the Centre for East European Policy Studies

One of Russia’s main “successes” in 2022 is the revision of relations with Russia. Even relatively conciliatory countries could no longer deny Russia’s destructive influence after 24 February, which naturally forced a rethinking of how we cooperate and interact with Russia, and who benefits from it. In this context, various destructive tendencies of Russia were given a significant role, such as efforts to manipulate public opinion through the liberal media spaces of Western countries. Legally, efforts to reduce Russia’s levers of influence elicit a retaliatory response from the country, which does not seek to refute accusations but instead points to human rights violations.

Continuation of the trend

At the end of last year, the Russian human rights protection institution “The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights” issued a report “Violations of the rights of Russian citizens and compatriots abroad in 2022”. According to the report’s authors, the situation of Russian citizens and compatriots in Western countries and their satellite states, including Ukraine, significantly deteriorated in 2022.

In their assessment, there is intentional and deliberate discrimination against Russians in Western countries, aimed at their life, freedom, self-respect, property and rights.[1] It is worth noting that the authors of the study acknowledge that such a trend had been observed for several years, but only gained momentum in 2022. In their view, a militant Russophobia, which has gained widespread acceptance and recognition, determines not only Western countries’ foreign, but also domestic policy.

This actually results in mass persecution based on nationality, language or nationality.[2] These events, in the view of the authors, are part of a larger Western effort to fight Russia; thus, they should not be viewed as an isolated phenomenon, but as a separate front of Western countries’ aggression aimed at causing as much damage to Russia as possible.[3]

The beginning of the Ukraine war, which allegedly resulted in attacks on Russian citizens abroad, using the Russian language, Russian car number plates or the colours of the Russian flag on clothing as a pretext, explains the rise in this type of aggression. Andrey Suzdaltsev, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, symbolically agreed with them, explaining that Russophobia is the dominant state-forming ideology in former Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries.[4]

Consequently, the systematic aggression against Russia and its citizens observed in European countries is a natural continuation of a trend that can even be considered a tradition.[5] Russian journalists, whom the West is trying to silence, are also subject to aggression, which not only limits the ability of Russian citizens to obtain information, but is also one of the elements of Western informational aggression.

Similarly, economic pressure is applied to Russian state-owned properties or Russian companies, even to the point of seizing control, which, according to the authors, not only violates norms and principles of international relations, but also qualifies as criminal activity.

During a press conference, Alexander Brod, director of “The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights”, stated that the report will not only be distributed to experts, but also to politicians, diplomats, and foreign rights protection organisations. Concerning the latter, he was forced to admit that, over the last year, the majority of them engaged in “ostrich tactics”, supporting the Russophobic West, as a result of which they chose to pretend to be blind to violations of Russian civil rights.[6]

To address the situation, the authors advocate the use of all available legal, political, economic and informational tools to counteract Western countries. Furthermore, the authors believe it is necessary to inform Russians as much as possible about such events, particularly the actions of Ukrainian armed forces.[7]

Coordinated efforts

They were not the only ones to make similar accusations in 2022. In June, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a report on violations of the rights of Russian citizens and compatriots abroad, concluding that shockingly brutal discrimination against Russians existed, even in schools and against people with Russian roots. Moreover, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, such actions were planned and coordinated in advance.[8]

In 2022, “Rossotrudnichestvo”, an institution whose functions include international humanitarian cooperation, also wrote about the discrimination against Russians abroad. According to them, the attitude toward representatives of the “Russian world” changed dramatically after 24 February, with a generally humanitarian character, that is, everything Russian was abolished.[9]

As a result, the reports of all institutions generally paint a unified picture, namely, that repression and discriminatory actions are being actively committed and even in a coordinated manner against Russian nationals and people with Russian roots in Western countries. The primary goal of these messages is clear: to make Russians feel falsely threatened and accused, not only in their home country, but also abroad. The Kremlin’s main goal is to perpetuate the myth of omnipresent Russophobia and an aggressive attitude towards Russia, which most ordinary citizens and their own compatriots abroad must face. In this way, an attempt is made to maintain the message that Russia is, in fact, engaged in an informational and, in some ways, cultural war that employs a wide range of means.

The defence of its own citizens can thus serve as justification for any further action by Russia. As a clear enemy is created, it can also be used to rally its citizens around Russia and the Kremlin as a protector of Russians. The impression is created that Russians are being threatened all over the world, and the only solution is to continue supporting Russia and its regime, which will be able to defend its citizens.

Such messages also target Russian nationals and Russians living outside of Russia in order to disrupt integration in their home countries. Anyone who associates themselves with Russia, in Russia’s foreign policy vision, becomes an instrument of Russia’s foreign policy, as they are able to stand and defend Russia’s interests. The integration of such people in their home countries threatens to weaken their connection with Russia, as a result of which Russia would lose tools of political influence; thus, the Kremlin needs to maintain the population’s loyalty to Russia.

International dimension

On the other hand, the second purpose of such messages is to defame the West, which plays an important role in wartime conditions. Western countries are represented as violating the principles of international relations and proportionate action, as well as generally accepted human rights principles.

In the context of pro-Kremlin disinformation, various techniques are widely used to demonstrate the duplicity and application of double standards by Western countries in order to emphasise their “true” evil nature, where human rights are only an abstract concept that is not applied in practice. Accordingly, in times of war, Western countries are portrayed as aggressors, which indirectly aids the Kremlin in its fight against those who sympathise with Western values or political attitudes.

In other words, since Western countries are Russophobic, supporting them can be equated with aggression against Russia and its citizens. As a result, an argument is created to counteract any messages from Western countries that may reach the Russian audience, preventively defaming the West as a whole. Therefore, it is not surprising that in such cases, the Baltic states and Poland are historically singled out as strongly negative examples, i.e., countries that have long taken a strong stance against Russia and actively support Ukraine even during times of war. At the same time, it serves to divert attention away from Russia’s own problems with human rights.

To conclude, Russia’s appeal to alleged human rights violations in Western countries is neither new nor surprising. Its goal is to divert attention away from Russia’s problems by defaming Western countries and their supporters within Russia, as well as to create a sense of constant paranoia that can only be countered by the Kremlin. This is critical in times of war because it helps to mobilise society around the ruling regime as a defender of Russia around the world, while also creating additional arguments in favour of confrontation with the West.

In an instrumental sense, the actualisation of human rights issues opens up new opportunities; because human rights are universal, Russia would be able to intervene in the internal affairs of Western countries and the implementation of national policies under the guise of defending human rights and caring for its citizens. Therefore, it is not surprising that these types of “reports” are developed by institutions with ties to the Russian state; that is, these reports become a tool in the hands of Russian diplomats and officials, with which they regularly remind the rest of the world about the alleged global Russophobia.

This publication has been financed by the European Media and Information Fund (EMIF) that is managed by the “Calouste Gulbekian Foundation”:  The sole responsibility for the content lies with the author(s) and the content may not necessarily reflect the positions of EMIF or the foundation.

 

[1] RIA Novosti, “Эксперты заявили о заметном ухудшении положения россиян в странах Запада”, skat. 23.01.2023., https://web.archive.org/web/20221221102639/https://ria.ru/20221219/zapad-1839676837.html

[2] Михаил Котляр, “Преследуют за язык, национальность и гражданство. Как ухудшилось положение россиян за границей”, Gazeta.ru, skat. 23.01.2023., https://web.archive.org/web/20221221204928/https://www.gazeta.ru/social/2022/12/19/15965059.shtml https://www.gazeta.ru/social/2022/12/19/15965059.shtml?updated

[3] Turpat

[4] Turpat

[5] Turpat

[6] RIA Novosti, “Эксперты заявили о заметном ухудшении положения россиян в странах Запада”, skat. 23.01.2023., https://web.archive.org/web/20221221102639/https://ria.ru/20221219/zapad-1839676837.html

[7] Михаил Котляр, “Преследуют за язык, национальность и гражданство. Как ухудшилось положение россиян за границей”, Gazeta.ru, skat. 23.01.2023., https://web.archive.org/web/20221221204928/https://www.gazeta.ru/social/2022/12/19/15965059.shtml https://www.gazeta.ru/social/2022/12/19/15965059.shtml?updated

[8] Turpat

[9] Алена Нефедова, “В притеснении и обиде: где и как дискриминировали россиян в 2022 году”, Izvestiya, skat. 24.01.2023., https://web.archive.org/web/20221218234325/https://iz.ru/1440802/alena-nefedova/v-pritesnenii-i-obide-gde-i-kak-diskriminirovali-rossiian-v-2022-godu