For Kremlin Imperialists, Chechens who ‘Cleanse’ Ukrainian Cities are ‘More Russian’ than ‘Russian Ukrainians in Ukrainian Army,’ Pozharsky Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 1 – Once again, a conflict in Ukraine has divided the camp of Russian nationalists with some calling for “’an end to the insanity’” and others insisting on unqualified ‘support for the Russian army,” between those who were once called “’imperialists’ and ‘anti-imperialists,” Mikhail Pozharsky says.

            And this in turn is prompting a more serious discussion about nationalism and about “just who are the Russians,” an ethno-national community or something else, the Russian commentator continues. The answers to this question may surprise some but give clearer guidance to many who are now lost  (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=621F617A8CDC1).

            If Russians are an ethnos, Pozharsky says, there are no problems arising from the fact that they live in several countries. “Ethnic Frenchmen live in Canada, and ethnic Germans live in Switzerland. And it is quite possible to be part of the American civic nation while remaining an ethnic Irishman or Italian.”

            “No one asserts that the above named are ‘divided peoples,’” because they are linked by culture even across borders. And it is time to recognize that “Russians are too large a people to be reduced to the borders of a single state project. It is quite normal that various Russians live in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Baltic countries and so on.”

            From this perspective, what is happening in Ukraine is “a real catastrophe” because it is deepening divides between ethnic Russians in Russia and ethnic Russians in Ukraine, Pozharsky says. “Russians are killing Russians. The Ukrainian military consists of approximately half if not more of ethnic Russians.” And moving the Russian border to Lviv will only deepen this divide.

            The imperialism which now welcomes Russian tanks around Kyiv is “not ethnocentrism but something else.” For those who follow this doctrine, “Russianness is not about ethnic membership; it is defined only by loyalty to a single government center” rather than to the Russian people as such.

            “For the imperialist, the Kadyrov guard, conducting ‘cleansings’ of Ukrainian cities is more ‘Russian’ than Russian Ukrainians in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the Russian commentator argues. Russians for the imperialists in the Kremlin are “not an end but only a means.”

            Pozharsky says he used to think that the two kinds of people usually lumped together as Russian nationalists could find a common language, but he now recognizes that this is impossible. Imperialists are “always cannibals.” And so he issues this appeal: “Be a Russian; Be against this war.”