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Russian imperialism refers to the political, economic, cultural, and military power or control exerted byRussia and its predecessor states, over other countries and territories. It includes the conquests of theTsardom of Russia, theRussian Empire, the imperialism of theSoviet Union, and theneo-imperialism of the Russian Federation. Somepostcolonial scholars have noted the lack of attention given to Russian and Soviet imperialism in the discipline.[1]
After theFall of Constantinople (1453),Moscow named itselfthe third Rome, following theRoman andByzantine Empires. Beginning in the 1550s, Russia conquered, on average, territory the size of theNetherlands every year for 150 years. This includedSiberia,Central Asia,the Caucasus and parts ofEastern Europe. Russia engaged insettler colonialism in these lands, and alsofounded colonies in North America, notably in present-day Alaska. At its height in the late 19th century, the Russian Empire covered about one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it thethird-largest empire in history.
In the late 18th century, theemperors promoted the concept of an "All-Russian nation" made up ofGreat Russians,Little Russians (Ukrainians) andWhite Russians (Belarusians), to bolster Russian imperial claims to parts of the partitionedPolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. EmperorNicholas I made "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality" the official imperial ideology, which sought to unite the empire's many peoples throughEastern Orthodox Christianity, loyalty to the emperor, and Russianness.
In theRussian Civil War, theRussian Bolsheviks seized control of the former empire's territories and founded the Soviet Union (USSR). Although claiming to be anti-imperialist, it hadmany similarities with empires. It was involved in manyforeign military interventions and inregime change throughout the world, as well asSovietization. UnderJoseph Stalin, the USSR pursuedinternal colonialism in Central Asia[2] bymassive forced resettlement. Under theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union andNazi Germany divided eastern Europe between themselves. At the end ofWorld War II, most eastern and central European countries wereoccupied by the USSR; theseEastern Bloc countries were widely regarded asSoviet satellite states.
Since the 2010s, analysts have describedRussia under Vladimir Putin as neo-imperialist. Russiaoccupies parts of neighboring countries and has engaged inexpansionism, most notably with the 2008Russian invasion of Georgia, the 2014annexation of Crimea, and the 2022invasion of Ukraine andannexation of its southeast. Russia has also establisheddomination over Belarus. The Putin regime has revived imperial ideas such as the "Russian world" and the ideology ofEurasianism. It has useddisinformation and theRussian diaspora to undermine the sovereignty of other countries. Russia is also accused ofneo-colonialism in Africa, mainly through theactivities of the Wagner Group and Africa Corps.
Montesquieu wrote that "TheMoscovites cannot leave the empire" and they "are all slaves".[3]: 12 HistorianAlexander Etkind describes a phenomenon of "reversed gradient", where people living near the center of the Russian Empire experienced greater oppression than the ones on the edges.[4]: 143–144 Jean-Jacques Rousseau in turn argued thatPoland was not free because of Russian imperialism.[3]: 12 In 1836,Nikolai Gogol said thatSaint Petersburg was "something similar to a European colony in America", remarking that there were as many foreigners as people of the native ethnicity.[5] According toAleksey Khomyakov, the Russian elite was "a colony of eclectic Europeans, thrown into a country of savages" with a "colonial relationship" between the two.[6] A similar colonial aspect was identified byKonstantin Kavelin.[7]
Russian imperialism has been argued to be different from other Europeancolonial empires due to its empire being overland rather than overseas, which meant that rebellions could be more easily put down, with some lands being reconquered soon after they were lost.[8]: 1 The terrestrial basis of the empire has also been seen as a factor which made it more divided than sea-based ones due to the difficulties of communication and transport over land at the time.[9]
Russian imperialism has been linked to the labour-intensive and low productivity economic system based onserfdom and despotic rule, which required constant increase in the amount of land under cultivation to legitimise the rule and provide satisfaction to the subjects.[3]: 17–18 The political system in turn depended on land as a resource to reward officeholders, and thus the political elite made territorial expansion an intentional project.[citation needed]
According toVasily Klyuchevsky, Russia has the "history of a country that colonizes itself".[4]Vladimir Lenin saw Russia'sunderdeveloped territories asinternal colonialism.[10] This concept had first been introduced in the context of Russia byAugust von Haxthausen in 1843.[11]Sergey Solovyov argued that this was because Russia "was not a colony that was separated from the metropolitan land by oceans".[12] ForAfanasy Shchapov, this process was primarily driven by ecological imperialism, whereby thefur trade and fishing were driving the conquest of Siberia and Alaska.[13] Other followers of Klyuchevsky identified the forms of colonization driven by military or monastic expansion, among others.[14]Pavel Milyukov meanwhile noted the violence of this self-colonizing process.[15] A similarity was later noted between Russian self-colonialism and theAmerican frontier byMark Bassin.[12]
The territorial expansion of the empire gave the autocratic rulers of Russia additional legitimacy, while also giving the subjugated population a source of national pride.[16] The legitimation of the empire was later done through different ideologies. After theFall of Constantinople,Moscow named itself thethird Rome, following theRoman andByzantine Empires. In apanegyric letter to Grand DukeVasili III composed in 1510, Russian monkPhilotheus (Filofey) of Pskov proclaimed, "Two Romes have fallen. The third stands. And there will be no fourth. No one shall replace your ChristianTsardom!".[17] This led to the concept of a messianic Orthodox Russian nation as theHoly Rus.[18]: 33 Russia claimed to be the protector of Orthodox Christians as it expanded into the territories of theOttoman Empire during wars such as theCrimean War.[19]: 34
After the victory of monarchistCoalition in 1815, Russia promulgated theHoly Alliance withPrussia andAustria to reinstate thedivine right of kings and Christian values in European political life, as pursued byAlexander I under the influence of his spiritual adviser BaronessBarbara von Krüdener. It was written by the Tsar and edited byIoannis Kapodistrias andAlexandru Sturdza.[20] In the first draft Tsar Alexander I made appeals to mysticism through a proposed unified Christian empire, with a unified imperial army, that was seen as disconcerting by the other monarchies. Following revision, a more pragmatic version of the alliance was adopted by Russia, Prussia, and Austria.[20][21] The document was called "an apocalypse of diplomacy" by French diplomatDominique-Georges-Frédéric Dufour de Pradt.[20] The Holy Alliance was largely used to suppress internal dissent, censoring the press and shutting down parliaments as part of "The Reaction".[21][improper synthesis?]
UnderNicholas I of Russia,Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality became the official state ideology.[22][23] It required the Orthodox Church to take an essential role in politics and life, required the central rule of a single autocrat or absolute ruler, and proclaimed that the Russian people were uniquely capable of unifying a large empire due to special characteristics. Similar to the broader "divine right of kings", the emperor's power would be seen as resolving any contradictions in the world and creating an ideal "celestial" order.[24]Hosking argued that the trio of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality" had key flaws in two of its main pillars, as the church was entirely dependent and submissive to the state, and the concept of nationality was underdeveloped because many officials wereBaltic German and the revolutionary ideas of nation states were a "muffled echo" in a system that relied on serfdom. In practice, this left autocracy as the only viable pillar.[23] Despite its underdeveloped and contradictory nature, the imperial "All-Russian" nationality was embraced by many imperial subjects (includingJews andGermans) and thus did provide some cultural and political support for the Empire.[25] This national concept first demonstrated its political importance near the end of the 18th century, as a means of legitimizing Russian imperial claims to the eastern territories ofthe partitioned Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[26]
In the 19th century,pan-Slavism became a new legitimation theory for the empire.[27] Though it originated in Western Slavic (Czech and Slovak) intellectual circles in the 1830s, and found support from anti-imperial Ukrainian movements like theBrotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius, pan-Slavism was later co-opted by conservative Russian nationalists as an ideological support for the Empire's power projection, particularly in the Balkans. "By the second half of the 19th century, Russian publicists adopted--and transformed--the ideology of Pan-Slavism. Convinced of their own political superiority and armed with self-confidence in their self-professed role as protector against the threat from German and Ottoman Turkish enemies, Russian publicists argued that all Slavs, for their own best interests, might as well merge with the 'Great Russians.'"[28]
The "Russian geography" poem by a notable 19th century Russian poetFyodor Tyutchev was considered by philologistRoman Leibov [ru;et] to express ideology of the worldwide Slavic empire:[29]
Moscow and Peter's grad, the city of Constantine,
these are the capitals of Russian kingdom.
But where is their limit? And where are their frontiers
to the north, the east, the south and the setting sun?
The Fate will reveal this to future generations.
Seven inland seas and seven great rivers
from the Nile to the Neva, from the Elbe to China,
from the Volga to the Euphrates, from Ganges to the Danube.
That's the Russian Kingdom, and let it be forever,
just as the Spirit foretold and Daniel prophesied.
One of the leading theorists and political leaders of theEurasianist movement,Nikolai Trubetzkoy, considered the predecessor of the Russian state to be theMongol Empire founded byGenghis Khan, and not the principalities ofKievan Rus'. Genghis Khan was the first to unite the entire Eurasian continent, and as Trubetzkoy put it, "by its very nature, Eurasia is historically predestined to comprise a single state entity."[30]
From the 16th century onwards Russia conquered, on average, territory the size of theNetherlands every year for 150 years.[31]
Russian expansionism has largely benefited from the proximity of the mostly uninhabitedSiberia, which has been incrementallyconquered by Russia since the reign ofIvan the Terrible (1530–1584).[32] The Russian colonization of Siberia and conquest of its indigenous peoples has been compared toEuropean colonization of the Americas and its natives, with similar negative impacts on the natives and the appropriation of their land. Other researchers, however, consider that settlement of Siberia differed from European colonization in not resulting in native depopulation, as well as providing gainful employment and integrating indigenous population into settlers' society.[33] The North Pacific also became the target of similar expansion establishing theRussian Far East.[34]
In 1858, during theSecond Opium War, Russiastrengthened and eventually annexed the north bank of the Amur River and the coast down to the Korean border fromChina in the "Unequal Treaties" ofTreaty of Aigun (1858) and theConvention of Peking (1860). During theBoxer Rebellion, the Russian Empireinvaded Manchuria in 1900, and theBlagoveshchensk massacre occurred against Chinese residents on the Russian side of the border.[35][36] Furthermore, the empire at times controlledconcession territories in China, notably theChinese Eastern Railway and concessions inTianjin andRussian Dalian.
Between 1800 and 1914, 5.5 million European Russians and other Slavs moved to Siberia and the Far East, outnumbering the local Asian populace, except inYakutia andKamchatka, were they stayed in minority.[37] This colonization continued even during theSoviet Union in the 20th century.[38]
The Russian conquest of Central Asia took place over several decades. In 1847–1864 they crossed the easternKazakh Steppe and built a line of forts along the northern border ofKyrgyzstan. In 1864–1868 they moved south from Kyrgyzstan, capturedTashkent andSamarkand and dominated the Khanates ofKokand andBokhara. The next step was to turn this triangle into a rectangle by crossing theCaspian Sea. In 1873 the Russians conqueredKhiva, and in 1881 they took westernTurkmenistan. In 1884 they took the Merv oasis and eastern Turkmenistan. In 1885 further expansion south toward Afghanistan was blocked by the British. In 1893–1895 the Russians occupied the highPamir Mountains in the southeast. According to historian Alexander Morrison, "Russia's expansion southwards across the Kazakh steppe into the riverine oases of Turkestan was one of the nineteenth century's most rapid and dramatic examples of imperial conquest."[39]
In the south, theGreat Game was a political and diplomatic confrontation that existed for most of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century between the British Empire and the Russian Empire overCentral andSouth Asia. Britain feared that Russia planned to invadeIndia and that this was the goal of Russia's expansion in Central Asia, while Russia continuedits conquest of Central Asia.[40] Indeed, multiple 19th-century Russian invasion plans of India are attested, including theDuhamel andKhrulev plans of theCrimean War (1853–1856), among later plans that never materialized.[41]
Historian A. I. Andreyev stated that, "in the days of the Great Game,Mongolia was an object of imperialist encroachment by Russia, asTibet was for the British."[42] In theAnglo-Russian Convention of 1907, the Russian Empire and British Empire officially ended their Great Game rivalry to focus on opposing the German Empire, dividing Iran into British and Russian portions.[43] In 1908, thePersian Constitutional Revolution sought to establish a democraticcivil society in Iran, with an electedMajilis, a relatively free press and other reforms.[43] TheRussian Empire intervened in the Persian Constitutional Revolution to support the Shah and reactionary factions. The Cossacksbombarded the Majilis,[44] Russia had earlier established thePersian Cossack Brigade in 1879, a force which was led by Russian officers and served as a vehicle for Russian influence in Iran.[45]
During this epoch, Russia also followed a policy of westward expansion. Following the Swedish defeat in theFinnish War of 1808–1809 and the signing of theTreaty of Fredrikshamn on 17 September 1809, the eastern half of Sweden, the area that then became Finland, was incorporated into the Russian Empire as anautonomousgrand duchy. In the late 19th century, the policy ofRussification of Finland aimed to limit the special status of theGrand Duchy of Finland and possibly ending its political autonomy and culturally assimilating it.Russification policies were also pursued inUkraine andBelarus.
In the aftermath of theRusso-Turkish War (1806–12) and the ensuingTreaty of Bucharest (1812), the eastern half of thePrincipality of Moldavia (which came to be known asBessarabia), an Ottomanvassal state, and some areas formerly under direct Ottoman rule, came under the rule of the Russian Empire. At theCongress of Vienna (1815), Russia gained sovereignty overCongress Poland, which on paper was an autonomous Kingdom inpersonal union with Russia. However, theRussian Emperors generally disregarded any restrictions on their power. It was, therefore, little more than apuppet state.[46][47] The autonomy was severely curtailed following uprisings in1830–31 and1863, as the country became governed byviceroys, and later divided intogovernorates (provinces).[46][47]
Eastwards expansion was followed by theRussian colonization of North America across thePacific Ocean. Russianpromyshlenniki (trappers and hunters) quickly developed themaritime fur trade, which instigated several conflicts between theAleuts and Russians in the 1760s. By the late 1780s, trade relations had opened with theTlingits, and in 1799 theRussian-American Company (RAC) was formed in order to monopolize the fur trade, also serving as an imperialist vehicle for theRussification ofAlaska Natives.
The Russian Empire also acquired the island ofSakhalin which was turned into one of history's largestprison colonies.[48][49] Initially, Russian maritime incursions into the waters surroundingHokkaido began in the late eighteenth century, spurring Japan to map and explore its northern island surroundings. Sakhalin had been inhabited by indigenous peoples includingAinu,Uilta, andNivkh, despite the island nominally paying tribute to theQing dynasty. After Russia acquired Manchuria from the Qing in the 1858Treaty of Aigun, they also acquired from the Qing, a nominal claim to Sakhalin across the strait. With the earlier 1855Treaty of Shimoda, a joint settler colony of both Russian and Japanese was temporarily created, despite conflicts. However with the 1875Treaty of Saint Petersburg the Russian Empire was granted Sakhalin in exchange for Japan gaining theKuril Islands.[50]
The furthest Russian colonies were inFort Elizavety andFort Alexander, Russian forts on theHawaiian Islands, built in the early 19th century by theRussian-American Company as the result of an alliance with High ChiefKaumualiʻi, as well as inSagallo, a short-livedRussian settlement established in 1889 on theGulf of Tadjoura inFrench Somaliland (modern-dayDjibouti). The Russians were forced to evacuate Sagallo after aFrench invasion. The southernmost settlement established in North America was atFort Ross, California.
Although the Soviet Union declared itselfanti-imperialist, it exhibited tendencies common to historicempires.[51][52][53] This argument is traditionally held to have originated inRichard Pipes's bookThe Formation of the Soviet Union (1954).[54] Several scholars, such asSeweryn Bialer, hold that the Soviet Union was a hybrid entity containing elements common to both multinational empires andnation states.[51][52][55] It has also been argued that the Soviet Union practicedcolonialism similar to conventional imperial powers.[53][56][57]Maoists argued that the Soviet Union had itself become an imperialist power while maintaining a socialist façade, orsocial imperialism.[58][59]
TheSoviet ideology continued themessianism of Pan-Slavism which placed Russia as aspecial nation.[60] Whileproletarian internationalism was originally embraced by theBolshevik Party during its seizure of power in theRussian Revolution, after the formation of theSoviet Union, Marxist proponents of internationalism suggested that the country could be used as a "homeland of communism" from which revolution could be spread around the globe.[61][62]Joseph Stalin andNikolai Bukharin encouraged this turn towardsnational communism in 1924, away from theclassical Marxism position of global socialism. According toAlexander Wendt, this "evolved into an ideology of control rather than revolution under the rubric of socialist internationalism" within the Soviet Union.[63]: 704
UnderLeonid Brezhnev, the policy of "Developed Socialism" declared the Soviet Union to be the most complete socialist country—other countries were "socialist", but the USSR was "developed socialist"—explaining its dominant role and hegemony over the other socialist countries.[64] Brezhnev also formulated and implemented the interventionistBrezhnev doctrine, permitting the invasion of other socialist countries, which was characterised as imperial.[65] Alongside this Brezhnev also implemented a policy of culturalRussification as part of Developed Socialism, which sought to assert more central control.[65] This was a dimension of Sovietcultural imperialism, which involved theSovietization of culture and education at the expense of local traditions.[66]
The Soviets pursuedinternal colonialism in Central Asia.[67] From the 1930s through the 1950s,Joseph Stalin orderedpopulation transfers in the Soviet Union, deporting people (often entire nationalities) to underpopulated remote areas. Transfers from the Caucasus to Central Asia included theDeportation of the Balkars,Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush,Deportation of the Crimean Tatars, theDeportation of the Karachays, and theDeportation of the Meskhetian Turks. Many European Soviet citizens and much of Russia's industry were relocated to Kazakhstan duringWorld War II, when Nazi armies threatened to capture all the European industrial centers of theSoviet Union. These migrants founded mining towns which quickly grew to become major industrial centers such asKaraganda (1934),Zhezkazgan (1938),Temirtau (1945) andEkibastuz (1948). In 1955, the town ofBaikonur was built to support theBaikonur Cosmodrome. Many more Russians arrived in the years 1953–1965, during the so-calledVirgin Lands Campaign of Soviet general secretaryNikita Khrushchev. Still more settlers came in the late 1960s and 70s, when the government paid bonuses to workers participating in a program to relocate Soviet industry close to the extensive coal, gas, and oil deposits of Central Asia. By 1979 ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan numbered about 5,500,000, almost 40% of the total population.
Despite early support forself-determination, theBolsheviks reconquered most of the Russian Empire during theRussian Civil War.[3]: 40 The earlyRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic annexed by force the following states:
From the 1919Karakhan Manifesto to 1927, diplomats of the Soviet Union would promise to revoke concessions in China, but the Soviets kept tsarist concessions such as theChinese Eastern Railway as part of secret negotiations 1924-1925.[68][69] This played a role in leading to the1929 Sino-Soviet conflict, which the Soviets won and reaffirmed their control over the railway,[70] the railway wasreturned in 1952.[68]
In 1939, the USSR entered into theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact withNazi Germany[71] that contained a secret protocol that divided Romania, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland into German and Soviet spheres of influence.[71][72] Eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland andBessarabia in northern Romania were recognized as parts of theSoviet sphere of influence.[72] Lithuania was added in a second secret protocol in September 1939.[73]
TheSoviet Union had invaded the portions of eastern Poland assigned to it by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact two weeks after the German invasion of western Poland, followed by co-ordination with German forces in Poland.[74][75] During theOccupation of East Poland by the Soviet Union, the Soviets liquidated the Polish state, and a German-Soviet meeting addressed the future structure of the "Polish region".[76] Soviet authorities immediately started a campaign ofsovietization[77][78] of thenewly Soviet-annexed areas.[79][80][81]
In 1939, the Soviet Union unsuccessfullyattempted an invasion of Finland,[82] subsequent to which the parties entered into aninterim peace treaty granting the Soviet Union the eastern region ofKarelia (10% of Finnish territory),[82] and theKarelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was established by merging the ceded territories with theKASSR. After a June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum demanding Bessarabia,Northern Bukovina, and theHertsa region from Romania,[83][84] the Soviets entered these areas, Romania caved to Soviet demands and theSoviets occupied the territories.[83][85]
In September and October 1939 the Soviet government compelled the much smaller Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave the Soviets the right to establish military bases there. Following invasion by theRed Army in the summer of 1940, Soviet authorities compelled the Baltic governments to resign. Under Soviet supervision, new puppet communist governments andfellow travelers arranged rigged elections with falsified results.[86] Shortly thereafter, the newly elected "people's assemblies" passed resolutions requesting admission into the Soviet Union. After the invasion in 1940 the repressions followed with themass deportations carried out by the Soviets.
Around 500,000 immigrants, mostly Russians, settled in Latvia, changing the share of Latvians from 84% in 1945 to 60% in 1953. Almost 180,000 Russians settled inEstonia, changing the share ofEstonians from 94% of the Republic in 1945 to 62% in 1989.[87] Similar colonizations occurred elsewhere. Between 1926 and 1959, the number of migrants rose from 57% to 80% inBuryatia, and from 36% to 53% in Yakutia. By 1959, Russians made up 75% of all migrants in Buryatia; 44% of migrants in Yakutia; and 76% of migrants inKhakassia.[88]
By the end ofWorld War II the Soviet Union had also annexed:[citation needed]
At the end ofWorld War II, most eastern and central European countries were occupied by theSoviet Union,[90] known as “European colonies”, while remaining independent though their politics, military, foreign and domestic policies were dominated by the Soviet Union.[91][better source needed] Soviet satellite states inEurope included:[92][93][94][95]
People's Republic of Albania (1946–1961)
Republic of Finland (1947-1991) -Finlandization
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1948–1989)
Polish People's Republic (1947–1989)
People's Republic of Bulgaria (1946–1990)
Romanian People's Republic (1947–1965; eventually achievedde-satellization)
German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)
Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989)
Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1948)TheDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan can also be considered a Soviet satellite; from 1978 until 1991, the central government inKabul was aligned with theEastern Bloc, and was directly supported by Soviet militarybetween 1979 and 1989. TheMongolian People's Republic was also a Soviet satellite from 1924 to 1991.[96] Other Asian Soviet satellite states included theChinese Soviet Republic inJiangxi province, theTuvan People's Republic, and theEast Turkestan Republic.
Analysts have described Russia's state ideology underVladimir Putin as nationalist and imperialist.[98][97][99][100][101][102] Since his third term as president, some analysts argue that Putin and his inner circle are working to re-establish a Russian empire.[103][99][104]Andrey Kolesnikov describes Putin's regime as melding nationalist imperialism with conservativeOrthodoxy and aspects ofStalinism. Putin has portrayed the Soviet Union as carrying out Russia's "imperial destiny" under another name.[105]
The Russian Federation is the primary recognizedsuccessor state to the Soviet Union and it has been accused of trying to bringpost-Soviet states back under its control.[106] Since thedissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia hasoccupied parts of neighboring states. These occupied territories areTransnistria (part ofMoldova);Abkhazia andSouth Ossetia (part ofGeorgia); andlarge parts of Ukraine, which it has illegally annexed. The four southernmostKuril Islands are considered byJapan and several other countries to be occupied by Russia as well. Russia has also established effective political domination overBelarus, through theUnion State.[101] Marcel Van Herpen has described the Russian-ledEurasian Economic Union andEurasian Customs Union as further empire-building projects.[107]
In the political language of Russia, the post-Soviet republics are referred to as the "near abroad". Increasing usage of the term is linked to assertions of Russia's right to maintain significant influence in the region.[108][109][110] Putin has declared the region to be part of Russia's "sphere of influence", and strategically vital to Russian interests.[110] The concept has been compared to theMonroe Doctrine.[108]
A 2012 survey by thePew Research Center found that 44% of Russians agreed that "it is natural for Russia to have an empire",[111] while a 2015 survey found that "61 percent of Russians believe parts of neighboring countries really belong to Russia".[112]
During the2014 Ukrainian revolution, Russia took control of and thenannexed Crimea from Ukraine, following a referendum held under occupation. AnalystVladimir Socor describedPutin's speech marking the annexation as a "manifesto ofGreater-Russia irredentism".[113] Putin harked back to the "Russian soldiers whose bravery brought Crimea into the Russian Empire". He said that thedissolution of the Soviet Union had "robbed" Russia of territories and made Russians "the biggest ethnic group in the world to be divided by borders", calling this an "outrageous historical injustice".[114] In Socor's view, Putin's speech thus "implies that reclaiming Crimea is only a first step in a grander design".[113] Peter Dickinson of theAtlantic Council considers the annexation to mark the start of a "campaign of imperial conquest" by Putin.[115]
Russia has been accused ofneo-colonialism in Crimea by enforcedRussification, discrimination, and by settling Russian citizens on the peninsula and forcing out Ukrainians andCrimean Tatars, which has been described ascolonization.[116]
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During and following the Crimea annexation,pro-Russian unrest erupted in parts of southeastern Ukraine. In April 2014,armed Russian-backed separatists seized towns in the easternDonbas region, sparking theDonbas War with Ukraine. That month, Putin began referring to "Novorossiya" (New Russia), a former Russian imperial territory that covered much of southern Ukraine.Michael Kimmage writes that this "implied an imperial program on Russia's part".[117] The Russian separatists declared their captured territories to be theDonetsk andLuhansk "people's republics". Russian imperial nationalism andOrthodox fundamentalism shaped the official ideology of these breakaway states,[118] and they announced plans for a newNovorossiya, to incorporate all of eastern and southern Ukraine.[119][120] The far-rightRussian Imperial Movement trained and recruited thousands of volunteers to join the separatists through its 'Russian Imperial Legion'.[121]
In his 2021 essay "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians", Putin referred to Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians as "one people" making up atriune Russian nation. He maintained that large parts of Ukraine are historical Russian lands and claimed there is "no historical basis" for the "idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians".[122] Björn Alexander Düben, professor of international affairs, writes that Putin is "embracing a neo-imperialist account that exalts Russia's centuries-long repressive rule over Ukraine, while simultaneously presenting Russia as a victim".[122]
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Russia launched afull invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[124] In announcing the invasion, Putin espoused an imperialist ideology; he repeatedly denied Ukraine'sright to exist, calling the country "an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space", and claiming that it was created by Russia.[125] Jeffrey Mankoff of the Institute for National Strategic Studies called the invasion "the 21st century's first imperial war" and said it "reflects the desire of many in the Russian elite to reestablish an imperial Russia".[101] It has been referred to as anirredentist war, going against the norm since World War II that sees territorialconquest as unacceptable.[126] Four months into the invasion, Putin compared himself to Russian emperorPeter the Great. He said thatTsar Peter hadreturned "Russian land" to the empire, and that "it is now also our responsibility to return (Russian) land". Peter Dickinson of theAtlantic Council sees these comments as proof that Putin "is waging an old-fashioned imperial war of conquest".[115]
InImperialism, supremacy, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2023), Kseniya Oksamytna wrote that "Imperialism is not just a land grab or subversion of another country's independence: it is an exercise ofsupremacy". She noted that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was accompanied by discourses of Russian "supremacy" andUkrainian "inferiority". Russian media portrayed Ukraine as weak, divided, illegitimate, and needing to be "saved" by Russia. Oksamytna says that this likely fuelledwar crimes against Ukrainians and that "the behavior of Russian forces bore all hallmarks of imperial violence, including sexual abuse, the looting of cultural artifacts, dispossession, ethnic cleansing, and forced recruitment of people on occupied territories into the imperial army".[127] Likewise,Orlando Figes defines the invasion as "imperial expansionism" and writes that the Russians' sense of superiority may help to explain its brutality: "The Russian killings of civilians, their rapes of women, and other acts of terror are driven by a post-imperial urge to take revenge and punish them, to make them pay for their independence from Russia, for their determination to be part of Europe, to be Ukrainians, and not subjects of the 'Russian world'".[102]
In September 2022, Russian occupation authorities heldannexation referendums in occupied provinces of Ukraine, despite the ongoing war and depopulation. Russian authorities said the results were overwhelmingly in favor of joining Russia. Putin then signed what he called "accession treaties" proclaiming theRussian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts on 30 September. The referendums, as well as the annexation, were condemned as illegitimate by the international community.[128][129]
In 2023, Putin said that Russian soldiers killed in the invasion of Ukraine "gave their lives toNovorossiya [New Russia] and for the unity of theRussian world".[130] In 2025, he claimedRussians andUkrainians were "one people" and that "the whole of Ukraine is ours".[131][132]
Since the 2000s the Russian government has promoted the idea of the "Russian World" (Russian:Русский мир,romanized: Russkiy Mir); generally defined as the community of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers who identify withEastern Orthodoxy and who purportedly hold similar values.[133] Putin established the Kremlin-fundedRusskiy Mir Foundation in 2007, to foster the "Russian World" concept abroad.[133]Jeffrey Mankoff says that the "Russian World" embodies "the idea of a Russian imperial nation transcending the Russian Federation's borders" and challenges "neighboring states' efforts to construct their own civic nations and disentangle their histories from Russia".[134] It has been endorsed by theRussian Orthodox Church under the leadership ofPatriarch Kirill of Moscow, who said "the civilization of Russia belongs to something broader than the Russian Federation. This civilization we call the Russian world".[133] Patriarch Kirill's 2009 tour of Ukraine was described by Oleh Medvedev, adviser to Ukraine's prime minister, as "a visit of an imperialist who preached the neo-imperialist Russian World doctrine".[135]
Linked to the "Russian World" idea is the concept of "Russian compatriots"; a term by which the Kremlin refers to theRussian diaspora andRussian-speakers in other countries.[136] In her bookBeyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire (2016),Agnia Grigas highlights how "Russian compatriots" have become an "instrument of Russian neo-imperial aims".[100] The Kremlin has sought influence over them by offering them Russian citizenship and passports (passportization), and in some cases eventually calling for their military protection.[100] Grigas writes that the Kremlin uses the existence of these "compatriots" to "gain influence over and challenge the sovereignty of foreign states and at times even take over territories".[100] This has been demonstrated in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. Then-PresidentDmitry Medvedev justified the2008 invasion of Georgia as defending "compatriots" in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[137] The issue of "Russian compatriots" has also raised tensions in Moldova'sGagauzia, Estonia'sIda-Viru county, Latvia'sLatgale region,northern Kazakhstan, and elsewhere.[100] Many countries resist the use of this term, as do many of the people to whom the Kremlin applies it.[100]
Putin is said to be influenced by the imperialist ideology ofEurasianism.[104][138] The contemporary Eurasianist ideology was shaped and promoted by political theoristAleksandr Dugin, who espoused it in his 1997 bookFoundations of Geopolitics. Political scientistAnton Shekhovtsov defines Dugin's Eurasianism as "afascist ideology centred on the idea of revolutionising the Russian society and building a totalitarian, Russia-dominated Eurasian Empire that would challenge and eventually defeat its eternal adversary represented by the United States and itsAtlanticist allies, thus bringing about a new ‘golden age’ of global political and culturalilliberalism".[139] Russia's military and political aggression against Ukraine since 2014 has been influenced and supported by neo-Eurasianists.[140] In 2023, Russia adopted a Eurasianist,anti-Western foreign policy in a document approved by Putin. This defines Russia as a "unique country-civilization and a vast Eurasian and Euro-Pacific power" that seeks to create a "Greater Eurasian Partnership".[141][142][143]
TheWagner Group, a Russian state-funded[144]private military company (PMC), has provided military support, security and protection for several autocratic regimes in Africa since 2017. In return, Russian and Wagner-linked companies have been given privileged access to those countries' natural resources, such as rights to gold and diamond mines, while the Russian military has been given access to strategic locations such as airbases and ports.[145][146] This has been described as a neo-imperialist andneo-colonial kind ofstate capture, whereby Russia gains sway over countries by helping to keep the ruling regime in power and making them reliant on its protection, while generating economic and political benefits for Russia, without benefitting the local population.[147][148][149] Russia has also gained geopolitical influence in Africa through election interference and spreading pro-Russian propaganda and anti-Western disinformation.[150][151][152] Russian PMCs have been active inthe Central African Republic,Sudan,Libya,Mali,Burkina Faso,Niger andMozambique, among other countries. They have been accused of killing civilians and human rights abuses.[145] In 2024, the Wagner Group in Africa was merged into a new 'Africa Corps' under the direct control of Russia's Ministry of Defense.[153] Analysts for the Russian government have acknowledged the neo-colonial nature of Russia's policy towards Africa.[154] Writing forThe Hill, Stephen Blank argues that Russia's actions and ambitions in Africa are "the quintessence of imperialism".[155]
Since the second-half of the nineteenth century the state sponsored all-Russian national identity was embraced by many imperial subjects (Jews, Germans, Ukrainians) and served as the bedrock of the Empire. By the early twentieth century the idea of a triune Russian nation was deeply entrenched among ethnic Russians.
The domination of Latin America, North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Asian part of the Soviet Union by European powers all involved the migration of permanent settlers from the European country to the colonies. These places were colonized.
the Russian Orthodox Army, one of a number of separatist units fighting for the "Orthodox faith," revival of the Tsarist Empire, and the Russkii Mir. Igor Girkin (Strelkov [Shooter]), who led the Russian capture of Slovyansk in April 2014, was an example of the Russian nationalists who have sympathies to pro-Tsarist and extremist Orthodox groups in Russia. ... the Russian Imperial Movement ... has recruited thousands of volunteers to fight with the separatists. ... such as the Russian Party of National Unity who use a modified swastika as their party symbol and Dugin's Eurasianist movement. The paramilitaries of both of these ... are fighting alongside separatists.
