While Russian military is fighting in Ukraine and Western sanctions hardenhurt the country, Western brands are on the exodus from Russia.
The closure of over 800 McDonald’s restaurants particularly stands out: McDonald’s was the first American restaurant to open in Russia, in 1990 (before the creation of Ukraine). Its arrival symbolized Russia’s new pro-Western era.
That era is rapidly ending, giving way to a quickly spreading revival of Russian nationalism. Such nationalism is a direct outcome of the country’s economic suffocation through sanctions and the West’s broad rejection of Russia and its war with Ukraine.
The West is collective punishing Russians, hoping that the dire economic crisis provoked by sanctions will put an end to the war in Ukraine, that was once an integral part of the Soviet Union.
Those who think that sanctions will turn Russia and Russians around and end the war know very little about the country, its history and its people.
Russians are used to turmoil and instability. They endured social experiments during the 20th century, and the early 21st, performed upon them by their own political leadership. Except for the rare example of Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian leadership during that period was never totally democratic as it is understood in the West.
The country, whose participation in World War I was led by a weak czar, emerged impoverished from that conflict. The czar’s rule was overturned by a Bolshevik uprising that ushered in Soviet rule for decades.
Private property was abolished in 1929, and political leaders commanded absolute, selfless obedience to the Soviet state.
World War II required painful sacrifice from every citizen, including children, but they fought hard until the Red Army liberated the concentration camps and marched over Germany to Berlin.
After the war was over, the depleted USSR constructed the metaphorical Iron Curtain, preventing its citizens from traveling to and communicating with the West. Then came the Cold War, and later t he painful disintegration of the USSR in 1990, which brought economic turmoil to the newly formed Russia, along with unemployment and high suicide rates.
What does this catalog of woes teach us?
It suggests the Russians cannot be scared by a sanctions-induced absence of goods. High-end fashion labels, iPhones, fancy coffee and foreign cars became a part of Russian life over the past 20 years – but the Russians have had them for far too short a time to be unable to imagine life without them. In any case, most of the luxury businesses – McDonald’s is considered a luxury business in Russia – operated in Moscow and its neighboring regions, whereas the overwhelming majority of the Russians did not get to see them in their towns.
Historically, any political and economic struggle united Russia and its people, especially in the face of a common enemy. The enemy was traditionally represented by the West.
World War II and the Cold War united the nation around the idea of self-sacrifice as central to the Soviet identity. The identity – a kind of Soviet exceptionalism – consisted of a morally superior nation that values the ephemeral Soul – the mysterious Russian “душа” – more than the perishable Western flesh.
Soviet identity encompassed a great variety of ethnicities, including but not limited to only Russia. Although the capital of the USSR was Moscow, and the official language of the Soviet Union was Russian, the USSR consisted of 14 additional republics, and united more than 100 nationalities. So “Soviet” refers to anyone who lived in the USSR, including Ukrainians, Russians, Georgians, Belorussians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Estonians.
The USSR used discourse that glorified Soviet sameness and the moral sacrifice of its people as a trigger for patriotism and loyalty to the motherland, whose core was Russia. Among popular slogans and sayings were: “Раньше думай о Родине а потом о себе”/“First, think about your motherland, and only then, think about yourself”; “Я – последняя буква алфавита”/“‘I’ is the last letter of the alphabet,” which it is in Cyrillic; and “Я русский бы выучил только за то, что им разговаривал Ленин!”/“I would learn Russian alone because Lenin spoke it!”
Eventually, “Russia” and “the USSR” were understood and used interchangeably, at home and abroad. Therefore, for majority of Russians, especially those born and raised in the USSR, watching Ukraine embrace the West means letting part of Russia’s history go with it.
I believe the West’s sanction strategy might backfire. Russians are the bravest and proudest people I know. They take pride in their culture, their erudition, and seeing their musicians, artists, sportpeople being harassed and mistreated pains them more then one can imagine in the US.
Not all Russians support the war in Ukraine and the government that dragged them into it. But all Russians are suffering from the sanctions and the crisis. Their common suffering is a dangerous thing: It is all too familiar; it makes them angry, and some are eager to strike back.
The possibility of this stems from the Russian national mindset, crafted in Soviet times and now affecting even generations that grew up in post-Soviet Russia. Western freedoms are only partially appealing, since historically, Russians never had them – not freedom of speech, self-determination, religion nor unrestricted travel.
Instead, the Russian people are patient, stoic and devoted to their motherland no matter what. The resistance in Leningrad and Stalingrad during World War II is unique in General History.
Where does that leave the Russians?
From my perspective, in a deep limbo: The country-that is currently bombing and destroying Ukraine is also their beloved homeland, and by now the only place in the world that accepts them as they are.
Having their country be an international pariah is not new for Russians, from its climate policies to its sports and its foreign affairs, including its widely condemned annexation of Crimea.
But today’s situation is extreme. I believe the chances that Russians will turn toward their government – as they feel rejected by the global community – are high.
That will likely lead to the intensifying of Putin’s autocratic regime under the guise of restoring the country’s industry and economy in the face of Western rejection.
Russia will have a common enemy again, and because thinking – and acting – disobediently in Russia typically has drastic consequences, dissent will not be heard.
Encouraging Russians to protest their government and their leader, as the West has done, while cutting ties with them, thus becomes an ideological oxymoron. It is collective punishing while suffocating them economically.
In Siberia, safety rules are a matter of life and death. One of them is about always leaving the bear a route to escape. The bear is particularly aggressive when wounded, cornered and protective of its cubs. The wounded bear, representing the Russian nation, is not an exception.
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