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Russophobia: Myth or reality?


Commonly, Russophobia (or anti-Russian sentiment) is understood as a fear and/or dislike for Russia, Russians and/or Russian culture. Undeniably, in the West, widespread stereotypical clichés are used in reference to Russia and Russians.
Photo by Taavi Tamtik (2015)

They are familiar stereotypes generated before the collapse of the Soviet Union and part of the lexicon of anticommunist rhetoric during the antagonisms of the Cold War. Russians today see this as unwarranted prejudice. Russian nationalists and Kremlin apologists (including its acolytes in the West) equate Russophobia, among other negative dimensions, as being aken to anti-Semitism, giving it a universal dimension, just as the fascism label has. The Kremlin refuses to see the irony in this – postulated by the two to three million Jews who scrambled to leave the Soviet Union, for the “fascist” West, mostly because….

(Read more: Estonian Life No. 32 2020 paber- and PDF/digi)

Laas Leivat, Toronto


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