Frontline Philosophy
Ideologies for Russia’s War
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Russia’s partial mobilisation in the autumn of 2022 brought the war against Ukraine home to the heart of Russian society. But why should a Russian citizen actually be prepared to sacrifice his life? The Kremlin is trying to cast the “special operation” in Ukraine as a continuation of the “Great Patriotic War”, that is to say, as a defensive war against fascism. Producers of ideology of various shades offer their own interpretation: Their “new frontline philosophy” enthuses about the war as an existential experience. For Russian Orthodox propagandists arguing from the point of view of historical redemption, Ukraine is the arena in which Russia, as katechon, stops the Antichrist.
(Osteuropa 9-10/2022, pp. 183–192)