Putin's Myth of Russian Exceptionalism

Just as the far right in America clings to the myth of American exceptionalism so too does the far right in Russia cling to the myth of Russian exceptionalism.  In the case of Russian, this myth has lasted for over a thousand years and has been routinely used to inflate the ego of Russians and to swell the heads of Russian leaders when faced with the reality that Russia doesn't measure up by international standards and certainly not by western standards.  This myth of Russian exceptionalism has been pushed under many guises, including the myth that Moscow was the "Third Rome" - after Rome and the Byzantium - and the frequent calls to rally to "Mother Russia."  Now, the myth has raised its head under Vladimir Putin who sees himself as a modern day tsar although with nowhere near the style and legitimacy.  A piece in Bloomberg.com looks at Putin's rejection of the west and fall back to the centuries old myth of Russian exceptionalism.  Here are excerpts:

What kind of country is Vladimir Putin's Russia? The third year of his third presidential term has offered plenty of clues: the Crimea invasion, the shuttering of uncensored media outlets, prison terms for protesters. Now, Putin is planning to put the intellectual and ideological foundations of the new regime into words.

A document called "Foundations of the State Cultural Policy" has been under development since 2012. A special working group under Putin's chief of staff Sergei Ivanov will soon roll it out for a month of "public debate" before Putin gets to sign it. Quotes from the culture ministry's draft, presumably the basis for the final one, have leaked out. 

"Russia must be viewed as a unique and original civilization that cannot be reduced to 'East' or 'West,'" reads the document, signed by Deputy Culture Minister Vladimir Aristarkhov. "A concise way of formulating this stand would be, 'Russia is not Europe,' and that is confirmed by the entire history of the country and the people."

Russia's non-European path should be marked by "the rejection of such principles as multiculturalism and tolerance," according to the draft. "No references to 'creative freedom' and 'national originality' can justify behavior considered unacceptable from the point of view of Russia's traditional value system."

If "Foundations of the State Cultural Policy" is adopted in the form proposed by the culture ministry, isolationism and, yes, intolerance of anything "alien" will be enshrined on an official level. 

I read an interesting explanation of the anti-Western backlash in a column by pro-Kremlin political commentator Dmitri Yuriev. For a quarter of a century, he wrote, Russia sought rapprochement with the West and strove to be a member of the club. "A policy of entering the world community, joining the 'normal world' was approved by default," Yuriev recalled. "That 'normal world' was friendly, peaceful, democratic. It awaited Russia with gratitude for getting rid of the threat of Communist expansion and a world war." In fact, however, Russia "came up against increasingly vicious, cynical and uncompromising contempt for the interests of Russia."

Yuriev's description of Russia's seduction and rejection by the West, which it sought to befriend after the Soviet Union fell apart, lies at the core of what Putin, and his culture ministry, bill as a return to traditional values. . . . Russia must cleanse itself of the remnants of its romance with liberalism and tolerance.

The irony is that while Putin wants Russia to go its separate way, historically, Russia was at its greatest cultural heights when it was most connected to the west: Peter the Great made Russia a true power by embracing western knowledge; Alexander I was deemed the liberator of Europe during the late Napoleonic Wars; Alexander II freed the serfs while embracing western thought and principles; even under the all too flawed Nicholas II Russia was a leader in the arts, ballet, music and many other realms - a position that might have endured but for the Bolshevik revolution.   In contrast, whenever Russia has retrenched and turned inward, it has declined on the world stage.