Russians Will Likely Stop Hating Groups if Kremlin Stops Whipping Up Popular Attitudes Against Them, Analysts Tell ‘Novaya Gazeta’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 21 – An analysis conducted by Nezavisimaya Gazeta Europe and the Cedar Research Center suggests that over the last six years, hatred has spread among Russians against this or that group when the government adopts laws attacking the groups involved and then uses its media to whip up public sentiment against them.

            That has had unfortunate consequences for the groups involved, Alesya Sokolova, who coordinated the study of hatred in Russia since 2020;  but it contains one silver lining: It is almost certain, she and the experts she spoke with say, that if the powers stop promoting hatred, the amount of it will fall (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2026/01/21/kratkaia-istoriia-nenavisti).

            That is an optimistic assessment, of course; but it means that the Russian government must be held responsible in the first instance for hatred against various groups, a hatred the Kremlin is promoting to create a sense of unity against some common and invented enemy group.

            One can only hope that judgment is correct. But it raises another possibility which may be just as disturbing: What if it is the case among Russians – or indeed some other peoples – that the only way to promote unity is to hate someone else rather than to love one’s own group and thus recognize the right of others to love theirs?

            Clearly making what would be a welcome transition from unity based on hatred to unity based on affection will not be easy, especially in countries where the rulers have found it easier and more useful to themselves to generate and then rely on hatred rather than to take the chance on affection and even love.