When we read about Russia in the media, we almost never hear about conceptions of Russia’s vision of the world. We hear a lot about what Russia does to the West, rather than what it thinks and envisions. In truth, Putin’s Russia has never proposed any ideology that is anything but an opportunistic counter-positioning to the West. We don’t know if Russia is on the right or left wing, as it finances both far-right parties in Europe and Maduro’s far-left regime in Venezuela. We don’t know if Russia is pro- or anti-Israel, as it supports Hamas and is friendly with Jerusalem. To paraphrase an old Soviet joke, Russia “has never diverged from the Party line [but] always diverges along with it.”
OP-ED
Karina Orlova: The futile search for a Russian ideology
People walk on Red Square next to St Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower during a heavy snowfall in Moscow on Jan. 21, 2019.
