So, Is Russia Fascist Now? Labels and Policy Implications

1 Timothy Snyder, “Russia’s Genocide Handbook: The Evidence of Atrocity and of Intent Mounts,” Thinking about …  (blog), April 8, 2022, https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook?s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web; and Timothy Snyder, “We Should Say It. Russia Is Fascist,” New York Times, May 19, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/opinion/russia-fascism-ukraine-putinT.html; also see Timothy Snyder, “Putin Has Long Fantasized about a World without Ukrainians: Now We See What That Means,” Washington Post, March 23, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/23/putin-genocide-language-ukraine-wipe-out-state-identity/.

2 Alexander Motyl, “Yes, Putin and Russia Are Fascist: A Political Scientist Shows How They Meet the Textbook Definition,” The Conversation, March 30, 2022, https://theconversation.com/yes-putin-and-russia-are-fascist-a-political-scientist-shows-how-they-meet-the-textbook-definition-179063.

3 Shira Rubin, “Comparing Russian Aggression to WWII Nazi Campaign, Zelensky Calls for Israeli Military Support,” Washington Post, March 20, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/20/zelensky-israel-bennett-ukraine-russia/.

4 Vanessa Gera and Srdjan Nedeljkovic, “‘No Mercy’: Mariupol Bombing Compared to Nazi War Crimes,” Associated Press, March 22, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-poland-migration-scotland-a0377b4047666738b61c481fb2b159d3.

5 Francis Fukuyama, “Preparing for Defeat,” Frankly Fukuyama (blog), American Purpose, March 10, 2020, https://www.americanpurpose.com/blog/fukuyama/preparing-for-defeat/.

6 Roger Griffin, “Studying Fascism in a Postfascist Age: From New Consensus to New Wave?,” Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies 1, no. 1 (2012), https://brill.com/view/journals/fasc/1/1/article-p1_1.xml?language=en.

7 Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (New York: Random House, 2018).

8 Vladimir Putin, “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” Kremlin website (English version), February 21, 2022, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67828; “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” Kremlin website (English version), July 12, 2021, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181.

9 Adam Charles Lenton, “Who Is Dying for the ‘Russian World’?” Riddle, April 26, 2022, https://ridl.io/en/who-is-dying-for-the-russian-world/.

10 Michael Rossi Poli Sci channel, “Vladimir Putin Addresses on Socioeconomic Strategy for Russia – 16 March 2022,” YouTube, posted March 17, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FyFkAyqn4Q.

11 Ilia Budraitskis, “Pereizobretenie natsizma dlia nuzhd gospropagandy: Kak moral’ zameniaetsia siloi,” Mneniia, April 14, 2022, https://republic.ru/posts/103587?utm_source=republic.ru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morning.

12 Scott Radnitz and Harris Mylonas, “Putin’s Warning about Russian ‘Fifth Columns’ Has a Long, Sordid Lineage,” Washington Post, March 30, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/30/putin-fifth-column-traitors-russia-arrests/.

13 Andreya Pertseva, “Istoriia stanovleniia voennogo agressora Vladimira Putina,” Tvërstka, May 5, 2022, https://verstka.media/putin-voyna-ukraina/.

14 “Putin ob”yasnil slova ‘terpi moya krasavitsa’ ” Vedomosti, February 10, 2022, https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/2022/02/10/908783-putin-obyasnil-slova.

15 Stepan Bandera (1909–1959) was the main leader of the two nationalist organizations (Organization of Nationalist Ukrainians (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) that fought against the Soviet regime and collaborated with Nazi Germany. They were responsible for pogroms against Ukrainian Jews and the Polish minority. Bandera has become a contested symbol, seen by some as embodying Ukraine’s far-right nationalism, by others as a national hero personifying the nation’s struggle for its sovereignty.

16 Lev Gudkov, Vozvratnyi totalitarizm (Moscow: NLO, 2022).

17 Andrey Kolesnikov, “Gibridnyi totalitarizm: V rossiiskom avtoritarizme poiavili element totalitarnykh praktik, predpolagaiushchikh eshche bol’she konformizma, agressivnosti i nenavisti, schitaet columnist NT Andrey Kolesnikov,” Novoe vremya, April 4, 2022, https://newtimes.ru/articles/detail/211258.

18 Maria Snegovaya and Kirill Petrov, “Long Soviet Shadows: The Nomenklatura Ties of Putin Elites,” Post-Soviet Affairs 38 (2022).

19 Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin (New York: Basic Books, 2010), https://www.timothysnyder.org/books/bloodlands.

20 Dmitri Adamsky, Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics, and Strategy (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2019), https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=30653; “Patriarkh Kirill peredal glave Rosgvardii Avgustovskuiu ikonu Bozhei Materi,” Komsomol’skaia pravda, March 13, 2022, https://www.kp.ru/online/news/4662956/.

21 Patriarch Kirill, “Slovo Sviateishero Patriakha Kirilla v nedeliu 4-iu velikogo posta posle Liturgii v glavnom khrame Vooruzhennykh sil RF,” Russkaia Pravoslavnaia Tserkov’: Ofitsial’nyi sait Moskovskogo Patriarkhata, April 3, 2022, http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5914188.html.

22 “Patriakh Kirill vedet metafizicheskuiu bor’bu srazu na dva fronta: Proshchenoe voskresen’e glava RPTs otmetil propoved’iu o neobkhodimosti byt’ neprimirimymi,” Nezavisimaya gazeta, March 6, 2022, https://www.ng.ru/faith/2022-03-06/100_v06032022.html.

23 Samuel A. Greene and Graemi B. Robertson, Putin v. the People (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019), https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300238396/putin-v-people/; William E. Pomeranz and Regina Smyth, eds., Special Issue: Russia’s 2020 Constitutional Reform—The Politics of Institutionalizing the Status-Quo, Russian Politics 6, no. 1 (March 2021), https://brill.com/view/journals/rupo/6/1/rupo.6.issue-1.xml?language=en.

24 Marlene Laruelle, “Making Sense of Russia’s Illiberalism,” Journal of Democracy 31, no. 3 (July 2020), https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/making-sense-of-russias-illiberalism/.

25 Farida Rustamova, “‘My teper’ budem ikh vsekh e***’.’ Chto proiskhodit v rossiiskikh elitakh cherez mesiats posle nachala voiny: Sankstii i propaganda splotili vokrug Putina dazh tekh, kto byl protiv vtorzhenii v Ukrainu,” Faridaily (blog), Substack, March 31, 2022, https://faridaily.substack.com/p/--3c3?s=w&fbclid=IwAR27Z8BzPGQIaDF7H6g4hFTvyCfpxus8wMadYzKtu39-rxyVZkT6OAfTo_c.

26 Andrey Pertsev, “What Is the Russian Party of War Like?” Riddle, April 25, 2022, https://ridl.io/en/what-is-the-russian-war-party-like/; Filip Kovačevic´, “The Second Most Powerful Man in Russia: Nikolai Patrushev, Current Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, is one of a Dwindling Group of Hawks the Leader Listens to. But Who Is He?” New Lines, March 10, 2020, https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-second-most-powerful-man-in-russia/; [Anonymous “CK correspondent”] “Criticism of Medinsky Gives Kadyrov Chance to Demonstrate His Loyalty to Putin,” Caucasian Knot, March 21, 2022, https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/58680/; “Ukraine War: ‘Space Cooperation Only Possible When Sanctions Lifted,’ Says Russia,” South China Morning Post, April 2, 2022, https://www.scmp.com/newas/world/united-states-canada/article/3172879/ukraine-war-space-cooperation-only-possible-when.

27 Tom Ball, “Chechen Leader Kadyrov Accuses Kremlin Officials of Disloyalty,” Times, April 4, 2022, War in Ukraine, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chechen-leader-kadyrov-accuses-kremlin-officials-of-disloyalty-7njzgb6hn; Andrey Pertsev with Svetlana Reiter, “Kadyrov i ‘partiia voiny’ nabrosilis’ na Peskova za ‘nedostatochno patriotichnye’ vyskazyvaniia o vtorzhenii v Ukrainu,” Meduza, April 14, 2022, https://meduza.io/feature/2022/04/14/kadyrov-i-partiya-voyny-nabrosilis-na-peskova-za-nedostatochno-patriotichnye-vyskazyvaniya-o-vtorzhenii-v-ukrainu-chto-budet-s-press-sekretarem-putina.

28 Viktoria Poliakova, “Kadyrov obvinil Medinskogo v ‘oshibochnoi formulirovke’ po Ukraine,” RosBiznesConsulting, March 30, 2022, https://www.rbc.ru/politics/30/03/2022/624482489a79477d4f12aab6.

29 Dmitri Medvedev, “Pochemu bessmyslenny kontakty s nyneshnim ukrainskim rukovodstvom: Piat’ korotkikh polemicheskikh tezisov,” Kommersant, October 11, 2021, https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5028300; and comments on Telegram, https://t.me/rian_ru/148909; Daniel Boffey, “Russia Reasserts Right to Use Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine: Senior Politician Dmitry Medvedev Says Moscow’s Nuclear Doctrine Does Not Require Enemy State to Use Such Weapons First,” Guardian, March 26, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/26/russia-reasserts-right-to-use-nuclear-weapons-in-ukraine-putin.

30 Andrey Pertsev, “From Kremlin courtiers to propaganda serfdom,” Riddle, April 6, 2022, https://ridl.io/en/from-kremlin-courtiers-to-propaganda-serfdom/.

31 Marlene Laruelle, “The Intellectual Origins of Putin’s Invasion: There Is No Rasputin in the Modern Russian Court,” UnHerd, March 16, 2022, https://unherd.com/2022/03/the-brains-behind-the-russian-invasion/; “Russian Oligarch Charged with Violating U.S. Sanctions: Defendant Hired American Citizen Jack Hanick to Work for His Television network in Russia and Illegally Transferred $10 Million U.S. Investment to Business Associate,” Office of Public Affairs, US Department of Justice, April 6, 2022, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-oligarch-charged-violating-us-sanctions; UnHerd channel, Marlene Laruelle, “Investigating Aleksandr Dugin and the ‘Soul of Russia,’ ” interview by Freddie Sayers, YouTube, March 10, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxt5UVfM28Y.

32 Timofey Sergeytsev, “Chto Rossiya dolzhna sdelat’ s Ukrainoi,” RIA Novosti, April 3, 2022, https://ria.ru/20220403/ukraina-1781469605.html?fbclid=IwAR3vRd7ItDwe_yaqTa_wk84xkNp1TfVRNzLLBsApCoTc9cCepPe8YJXWzxA.

33 Kimberly Marten, “President Putin’s Rationality and Escalation in Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo, March 9, 2022, https://www.ponarseurasia.org/president-putins-rationality-and-escalation-in-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/.

34 Liz Sly, “Pro-war Russians are increasingly critical of the Ukraine conflict,” Washington Post, May 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/19/russians-criticize-military-war-ukraine/.

35 Marlene Laruelle and Ivan Grek, “Manufacturing Support for War: Russia’s Preppers, Fellow Travelers, and Activist Networks,” PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo, April 4, 2022, https://www.ponarseurasia.org/manufacturing-support-for-war-russias-preppers-fellow-travelers-and-activist-networks/.

36 See Greg Yudin’s interview with Gordeeva, April 18, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuuCeY9YwuY.

37 “The Conflict with Ukraine,” Russian public opinion poll,Yuri Levada Analytical Center Moscow, April 11, 2022, https://www.levada.ru/en/2022/04/11/the-conflict-with-ukraine/.

38 Redakstiya channel, “Kak v rossiiskie shkoly vozvrashchaetsia patrioticheskoe vospitanie,” Redakstiya YouTube, April 21, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIjBdlX-tsM.

39 Andrei Kolesnikov, “How Silent Assent Made Bucha Possible,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace website, April 6, 2022, https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/04/06/how-silent-assent-made-bucha-possible-pub-86822.

40 Denis Volkov, “Can You Trust Russia’s Public Support for a ‘Military Operation’ in Ukraine?,” Riddle, April 12, 2022, https://ridl.io/en/can-you-trust-russia-s-public-support-for-a-military-operation-in-ukraine/.

41 FOM, “Ukraina—Opros 20 marta: Predstavleniia o tseliakh Rossii na Ukraine,” FOM, March 28, 2022, https://fom.ru/Politika/14706.

42 Levada Center, “The Conflict with Ukraine.”

43 Lucas Dolan and Simon Frankel Pratt, “Fascism Starts with Paramilitary Ties to Mainstream Parties,” Foreign Policy, March 10, 2021, https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/10/fascism-republicans-paramilitary-trump-far-right-violence/.

44 Lukas Andriukaitis, “Signs of Neo-Nazi Ideology amongst Russian Mercenaries,” Res Publica – The Center for Civil Resistance, March 25, 2021, https://en.respublica.lt/signs-of-neo-nazi-ideology-amongst-russian-mercenaries.

45 Annabelle Timsit and Jennifer Hassan, “Signs of Massacre in Bucha Spark Calls for War Crimes Probes,” Washington Post, April 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/03/bucha-ukraine-graves-war-crimes-calls-icc/; Pjotr Sauer, “Hundreds of Ukrainians Forcibly Deported to Russia, Say Mariupol Women: Troops Ordered Women and Children on to Buses and Sent Them to ‘Filtration Camps,’ According to Witness Accounts,” Guardian, April 4, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/04/hundreds-of-ukrainians-forcibly-deported-to-russia-say-mariupol-women; Mia Bloom, “Rape by Russian Soldiers in Ukraine Is the Latest Example of a Despicable Wartime Crime That Spans the Globe,” The Conversation, April 7, 2022, https://theconversation.com/rape-by-russian-soldiers-in-ukraine-is-the-latest-example-of-a-despicable-wartime-crime-that-spans-the-globe-180656; TOI staff, “Israeli Lawmakers Tear into Zelensky for Holocaust Comparisons in Knesset Speech: Cyberattackers Attempt to Disrupt His Zoom Address,” Times of Israel, March 20, 2022, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-lawmakers-tear-into-zelensky-for-holocaust-comparisons-in-knesset-speech/.

46 Michael Mann, The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004), https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dark-side-of-democracy/7E75A132A188A2804E91F4F209B6FE1F.

47 Andrew Buncombe, “Killings in Ukraine Amount to Genocide, Holocaust Expert Says: Several Factors Required to Match Legal Definition Ukraine-Born Academic Tells Andrew Buncombe,” Independent, April 4, 2022, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-bucha-war-crimes-genocide-b2050897.html; Dirk Wolthekker, “UvA-hoogleraar genocidestudies: ‘Poetin moet voor tribunal gebracht worden,’ ” Folia, April 4, 2022, Actueel, https://www.folia.nl/actueel/151221/uva-hoogleraar-genocidestudies-poetin-moet-voor-tribunaal-gebracht-worden.

48 Financial Times Editorial Board, “Loose Language on Atrocities Will Not Help Ukraine: Biden’s Allegation of Genocide against Russia Is Too Hasty,” Financial Times, April 20, 2022, https://www.ft.com/content/49124f5c-b981-4b5e-a20f-35c73f4edfb1.

49 Lexington, “What Joe Biden’s Gaffe Says about His End-Game in Ukraine: Nine Ad-Libbed Words Mask His Caution in Dealing with Vladimir Putin,” Economist, April 2, 2022, https://www.economist.com/united-states/2022/04/02/what-joe-bidens-gaffe-says-about-his-end-game-in-ukraine.

50 Timothy J. Colton and Samuel Charap, Everyone Loses: The Ukraine Crisis and the Ruinous Contest for Post-Soviet Eurasia (London: Routledge, 2017), https://wcfia.harvard.edu/publications/everyone-loses-ukraine-crisis-and-ruinous-contest-post-soviet-eurasia.

51 Max Seddon, Henry Foy, and Aime Williams, “Russia publishes ‘red line’ security demands for Nato and US,” Financial Times, December 17, 2021, https://www.ft.com/content/493da5ea-6ef2-42cc-8be1-c725030cf839.

52 Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon, “A False Dawn for Liberalism?: Why the War in Ukraine May Not Revive the West,” Foreign Affairs 101, no. 3 (March 29, 2022), https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-03-29/false-dawn-liberalism; Roger Cohen, “Le Pen Backs NATO-Russia Reconciliation and Reduced French Role in Alliance,” New York Times, April 13, 2022, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Europe, World, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/13/world/europe/le-pen-nato-russia-germany.html.

53 Anatol Lieven, “Why It Would Be Better if This Democracy Summit Never Happened,” Responsible Statecraft (blog), Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, December 7, 2022, https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/12/07/why-it-would-be-better-if-this-democracy-summit-never-happened/.

54 Peter Slezkine, “The Trouble with ‘the Free World’: Why It’s a Bad Idea to Revive a Cold War Concept,” Foreign Affairs 101, no. 3 (May 6, 2022), https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2022-05-06/trouble-free-world.

55 David Adler, “The West v. Russia: Why the Global South Isn’t Taking Sides,” Guardian, March 28, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/10/russia-ukraine-west-global-south-sanctions-war.

56 Shivshankar Menon, “The fantasy of the Free World: Are Democracies Really United against Russia?” Foreign Affairs 101, no. 3 (April 4, 2022), https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-04-04/fantasy-free-world.

57 Budraytskis, “Pereizobretenie natsizma dlya nuzhd gospropagandy.”

58 Robert Coalson, “Nasty, Repressive, Aggressive—Yes. But Is Russia Fascist? Experts Say ‘No,’ ” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 9, 2022, https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-repressive-aggressive-not-fascist/31794918.html.

59 Ivan Krastev, “Putin Lives in Historic Analogies and Metaphors” interview by Lothar Gorris, Spiegel Online International, March 17, 2022, https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ivan-krastev-on-russia-s-invasion-of-ukraine-putin-lives-in-historic-analogies-and-metaphors-a-1d043090-1111-4829-be90-c20fd5786288.

60 Richard Haass, “What Does the West Want in Ukraine?: Defining Success—before It’s Too Late,” Foreign Affairs 101, no. 3 (April 22, 2022), https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2022-04-22/what-does-west-want-ukraine.