The term was described in 1995 as 'русизм' (English: Russism) by the President of the Chechen Republic of IchkeriaDzhokhar Dudayev,[15][16][17] who saw the military action by Russia in Chechnya as a manifestation of the rising far-right ideology. According to Dudayev, 'русизм' "is a variety of hate ideology which is based on Great Russian chauvinism, spiritlessness and immorality. It differs from other forms of fascism, racism, and nationalism by a more extreme cruelty, both to man and to nature. It is based on the destruction of everything and everyone, the tactics of scorched earth."[18]
The terms rashism and rashist are in common usage among military and political elites of Ukraine, as well as by journalists, influencers, bloggers, et al.[32][33][34] For example, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, advocates the use of the word in the meaning of Putin's fascism to describe Russia's aggression against Ukraine. He also stated that rashism is much worse than fascism.[35]
"Today, I would like to appeal to all journalists to use the word rashism, because this is a new phenomenon in world history that Mr. Putin has made with his country - modern rashists who are not much different from fascists. I will explain why: because before there was no such opportunity to destroy cities with so many air bombs, such equipment, there was no such force. Now absolutely other capacities and they use them as inhuman." — Oleksiy Danilov.[36]
On 14 April 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the Russian Federation as a terrorist state with a totalitarian neo-Nazi regime and banned its propaganda, as well as the propaganda of the act of Russian aggression against Ukraine.[37]
On 23 April 2022, President of UkraineVolodymyr Zelenskyy stated that "what Russia is doing is not nazism but rashism, this new concept will be in history books":[38]
"This country will have a word in our history textbooks that no one has invented, which everyone is repeating in Ukraine and in Europe - 'Ruscism'. It's not just random that everyone is saying that this is Ruscism. The word is new, but the actions are the same as they were 80 years ago in Europe. Because for all of these 80 years, if you analyse our continent, there has been no barbarism like this. So Ruscism is a concept that will go into the history books, it will be in Wikipedia, it will be [studied] in classes. And small children around the world will stand up and answer their teachers when they ask when Ruscism began, in what land, and who won the fight for freedom against this terrible concept." — Volodymyr Zelenskyy.[38][39]
On 24 April 2022, Timothy Snyder published an artilce in New York Times Magazine where he described the history, premises and linguistic pecularities of the term "Ruscism" (Ukrainian: Рашизм).[8]
Proponents
Aleksandr Dugin has been described as an ideologist of Rashism
In 1997, Russian fascist[40][41]Aleksandr Dugin in his book The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia, which had a significant impact on Russia's military, police and foreign policy elites, argued that Ukraine should be annexed by Russia because "Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning, no particular cultural import or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness, its certain territorial ambitions represents an enormous danger for all of Eurasia and, without resolving the Ukrainian problem, it is in general senseless to speak about continental politics. Ukraine should not be allowed to remain independent, unless it is cordon sanitaire, which would be inadmissible".[42] The book may have been influential in Vladimir Putin's foreign policy, which eventually led to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[43]
In 2018, Borys Demyanenko (Pereyaslav National University) in his paper "Ruscism as a quasi-ideology of the Post-Soviet imperial revenge" defined "ruscism" as a misanthropic ideology and an eclectic mixture of imperial neocolonialism, great-power chauvinism, nostalgia for the Soviet past, and religious traditionalism. Demyanenko considers that in internal domestic policy, Ruscism manifests itself in a violation of human rights alongside with a freedom of thought, persecution of dissidents, propaganda, ignoring of democratic procedures. While in foreign policy, Ruscism demonstrates itself in a violation of international law, imposing its own version of historical truth, the justification of occupation and annexation of the territories of other states.[45]
According to Oxford expert on Russian affairs Samuel Ramani, the article "represents mainstream Kremlin thinking".[54] According to Euractiv, Sergeitsev is "one of the ideologists of modern Russian fascism".[55] The head of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign AffairsEdgars Rinkēvičs called the article "ordinary fascism".[56]
In March 2022, Yale historian Odd Arne Westad said that Putin's words about Ukraine resembled, which Harvard journalist James F. Smith summarized, "some of the colonial racial arguments of imperial powers of the past, ideas from the late 19th and early 20th century."[57]
In April 2022, Larysa Yakubova (Institute of History of Ukraine) in her article: "The Anatomy of Ruscism" stated that Russia has never reflected the tragedies of totalitarianism and did not decommunize its Soviet totalitarian heritage (unlike Ukraine). That was the major reason for the formation and a rapid development of Ruscism in modern Russia both among political and intellectual/cultural elites. She also noted that the Ruscism, in a form of a threat to the world order and peace, will remain until there will be a global condemnation of Soviet communist ideology and its heir Ruscism.[58]
Features
Political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky argues that Rashism is disguised as anti-fascism, but has a fascist face and essence.[59] Political scientist Ruslan Kliuchnyk notes that the Russian elite considers itself entitled to build its own "sovereign democracy" without reference to Western standards, but taking into account Russia's traditions of state-building. Administrative resources in Russia are one of the means of preserving the democratic facade, which hides the mechanism of absolute manipulation of the will of citizens.[60]
According to Alexander J. Motyl, an American historian and political scientist, Russian fascism has the following characteristics:[63]
An undemocratic political system, different from both traditional authoritarianism and totalitarianism;
Statism and hypernationalism;
A hypermasculine cult of the supreme leader (emphasis on his courage, militancy and physical prowess);
General popular support for the regime and its leader.
According to Professor Oleksandr Kostenko, Rashism is an ideology that is "based on illusions and justifies the admissibility of any arbitrariness for the sake of misinterpreted interests of Russian society. In foreign policy, rashism manifests itself, in particular, in violation of the principles of international law, imposing its version of historical truth on the world solely in favor of Russia, abusing the right of veto in the UN Security Council, and so on. In domestic politics, rashism is a violation of human rights to freedom of thought, persecution of members of the "dissent movement", the use of the media to misinform their people, and so on." Oleksandr Kostenko also considers Rashism a manifestation of sociopathy.[64]
Criticism of the term
Russian television presenter Tina Kandelaki, who supported Russia's war against Ukraine,[65][66] criticized Wikipedia's use of the term "rashism" on her Telegram channel, accusing Wikipedia of "digital fascism" targeting Russian people and calling Russians to stop using it.[67]
^Беккер [Becker], Олександр [Alexander] (2022-03-17). Z — нацистський символ самознищення Росії [Z is a Nazi symbol of self-destruction]. armyinform.com.ua (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2022-04-15. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
^Русизм - шизофреническая форма мании мирового господства [Russism - schizophrenic form of world domination mania]. Политика (Politics). argumentua.com (in Russian). Аргумент (Argument). 2014-03-19. Archived from the original on 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
^Росія і рашисти: хто стоїть за спиною Путіна [Russia and the racists: who is behind Putin]. Експрес онлайн (Expres.online) (in Ukrainian). 2014-07-21. Archived from the original on 2020-08-10. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
^Костенко [Kostenko], Олександр [Oleksandr] (2014-03-18). Що таке "рашизм"? (in Ukrainian). Газета «День». Archived from the original on 2022-03-04. Retrieved 2022-04-25.