Here's an article by a Lithuanian (who grew up in the USSR), which contends, in effect, that Russians are barbarous
because they really are not European, even though sometimes they may pretend to be 'civilized' Europeans.
"We saw this coming: For Russia's neighbors, Putin's brutal invasion came as no surprise
For Lithuanians like me, raised on Russian propaganda, all of this was expected. The West didn't want to listen."
--
(9 April 2022)
"For Lithuanians or Poles, Russia's invasion of Ukraine did not come as a shock. It was always plausible — for more than a decade,
Russia has rehearsed attacks on its neighbors during military exercises, going as far as a simulated "cut-off" of the Baltic states from
the EU or simulated nuclear strikes on Warsaw or Berlin. As I write, children are dying, Ukrainian women and girls are being raped by
Russian soldiers, civilians are shot in the back; schools, hospitals and UNESCO-protected cathedrals are being carpet-bombed.
The death and deportation lists for thousands of Ukrainians have reportedly been drawn up, just as they were under Stalin and Hitler."
"We constantly tried to forewarn our partners — but for the most part, they thought it was an exaggeration, an example of
Russophobia. No, it was simply our fluency in their language; it was expertise and Russo-realism.
Why are so few willing to listen to this expertise? Even now, priority is given to those few Russian intellectuals who beg us not to
equate all Russians with Vladimir Putin, asking us to remember Russia's contributions to world culture. I hear their cries of despair,
but how are they constructive or relevant now? We already know, from the insights of Alphonse de Custine to André Gide to
Orlando Figes, that throughout the ages the main preoccupation of Russian intellectuals has been "What will the world think about
us? Won't the greatness of our cultural façade be diminished?" — and never mind the massacre of Ukrainian innocents."
"I feel that a cultural translation is required, as the Russian intellectuals cannot be impartial and the Western critics often lack
basic comprehension of Russian culture and language.
The latter, arguing that what is happening now is Russia's reaction to NATO expansion, are in fact supporting Putin's mindset:
There is no rule of law, no democracy and no national sovereignty; no results of national referendums are valid; the world is
just a cake to be sliced by those who happen to hold a knife."
"The main mistake made by Western countries was to accept the illusion that Russia is a part of European civilization.
This reflects Russia's capability to look like a simulacrum of European culture and to imitate its aesthetic shell while retaining
an entirely different content, often opposite to Western values."
My comment: 'The Russians are truly Asiatics' meme.
"The Russian state has historically never had a politically pluralist society nor any meaningful degree of self-governance, not even
on a low level, such as municipal or academic autonomy. It has always been a pyramid of power, enforced with violence, subjugating
its people into blind obedience. Even the notion of time in the Russian culture is different to the Western conception. It is cyclical, not
linear: Russians perceive that history is bound to repeat itself; it is predestined, and does not depend on individual human actions.
In this context, the human being is perceived as a tool, capable only of suffering; Russian culture has always glorified passive suffering (not proactive acts of kindness) as the warranty of "spirituality." Individuality and initiative were always persecuted, because
"
vsiakaya vlast' — ot Boga." ("All worldly authority is from God.")"
"For decades now, Russian media has been feeding its public a stream of propaganda about their major enemy, the "rotten West"
(that's you and me) and the "aggressive
Natovtsy" (i.e., NATO). The narrative repeated on a daily basis in Russia is about failing
Western societies, full of fascists and "perverts," largely meaning gays and lesbians. (They have even coined the Russian neologisms
"Gayrope" for Europe and "Liberasty," as in "pederasty," to describe liberal democracy.)
According to Russian propaganda, the nation's mission is to "liberate" Europe. We saw this all already with the "liberation" of the Baltic
countries during World War II. Millions of German women and girls were "liberated" by Russians in 1945, raped on their own soil."
Soviet soldiers (not only Russians, including Ukrainians) also raped many non-German women and girls.
Soviet war crimes were not committed by Russians alone.
"Current public opinion polls show that this view of "aggressive" NATO, the "rotten West" and the need to "liberate" Ukraine
is supported by approximately 70% of Russian citizens. Actively or passively, they are enabling what is happening."
"I had the Soviet school experience myself, and remember the content of the textbooks written to brainwash generations into
becoming uncritical cannon fodder for the fight with the rotten, capitalist West."
"Those in the West who go on and on about the need to support Russian society with "democratic change" or a "new Marshall plan"
do not understand one crucial fact: There is no critical mass in Russian society who want to implement it. It is impossible to import
democracy if 70% of Russians see it as an evil from the West.
As their neighbors, we know the Russian mentality and our advice is simple: Be fearless. Each Western appeasement toward Russia,
each silence, each closing of the eyes is treated as a sign of weakness, and Russians never respect weakness. They are not pragmatic
and do not mind self-inflicted wounds if they believe there is a higher goal."
"Let us do everything to help Ukraine win: On Ukraine's land and with Ukrainian blood, the battle for Western civilization is now
being fought."
Both Russia and Ukrainian are successor states to the USSR and inherited Soviet traditions.
In my view, it's an exaggeration (at best) for the author to portray the Ukrainians as 'good civilized Europeans' and
the Russians as 'evil barbarous Asiatics' (n effect).
so do you think they are responsible for the Soviet Union splitting apart?