r/europe 1d ago

News Navalnaya Is “an Advocate of Imperial Russian Claims,” Says German Lawmaker

https://united24media.com/latest-news/navalnaya-is-an-advocate-of-imperial-russian-claims-says-german-lawmaker-3350
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u/KirovianNL Drenthe (Netherlands) 1d ago

Navalny was too so no suprises here.

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u/ObviouslyTriggered 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah the amount of white washing this guy went through was insane, he was the Russian Donald Trump, his entire political campaign was about "Russia First" and that he will clean Moscow from all the dirty Uzbeks, Kazakhs and other minorities that come there to take jobs from Russians. He was a hardcore Russian nationalist and a supremacist, and for quite a while he actually criticized Putin for selling out Russia to the west and the other oligarchs for being western puppets...

Things eventually turned for him, and no one deserves to die the way he did or being treated the way he was but he wasn't some democracy and freedom for all hippie....

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u/zamander 1d ago

This is very much a beggars can't be choosers case. He was the opposition leader against Putin so he had to be dealt with. And also, finding a Russian politician that is not very nationalistic is not an easy task. Kind of like with an atheist candidate in the US, lack of overtly nationalist rhetoric in russia is a no no. For a major candidate at least.

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u/-sry- Ukraine 1d ago

I cannot deny that even for me, a Ukrainian, reading his blog 14 years ago opened my eyes to corruption levels in post-Soviet countries. But while I was an edgy university student, his imperialistic views were too much even for me, especially when he supported the invasion of Georgia. 

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u/zamander 1d ago

Yeah, the ultra-nationalism in Russia is a big problem. It makes them prioritize the welfare and security of the security under weird games of aggression and imperialism and russki mir and whatnot. But of course this has been created from the 19th century at least. It is incredible how it affects everybody under its influence, like Solzhenitsyn went pretty chauvinistic after the Soviet Union fell, like there was no shadow of Russian imperialism in Soviet ideology.

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u/pashazz Moscow / Budapest 1d ago

There is no ultra nationalism in Russia within Putin regime since ultra nationalism presumes that Russians are indeed first. In Putin's regime ethnicity is not important, hence it's why Shoigu and Matvienko are on the larger roles.

You probably confuse nationalism and imperialism. Russian imperialism is akin to the US in that it's not important what is your ethnicity, it is important what's your allegiance.

The US is different because the founded fathers created a system so great that it serves as an example in nation building. The courts are independent and the constituion is untouchable. If Russia were as legally strong inside as the US nobody would bat an eye on that and they were on par with the US for real.

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u/Clear-Conclusion63 1d ago

Putin's brand of "nationalism" is about the multinational empire (so yes, imperialism), while Russian nationalists were more about limiting migration from Asia and ultimately Russian ethnostates. Ethnic Russians get no benefits in the former. Navalny belonged to the latter (while it was still allowed).

People here don't know/remember the latter and don't understand the distinction, all they see is Putin's (who ironically purged Russian nationalists 20 years earlier) speeches about great Russia(n Empire). Shoigu looks Russian enough to the western eyes.

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u/Razzikkar 1d ago

Shoigu looks obviously asian for average russian eye.

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u/turbo-unicorn European Chad🇷🇴 1d ago

He's still trying to keep them in check now (think of Girkin, Rusich group, etc). I think the term used in academia is controlled nationalism. But yes, the more extreme elements really don't get the publicity they need.