The Russian World Today and Tomorrow
On the Document of the Russian People’s Council
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
At the end of March 2024, the World Russian People’s Council published an instruction that caused a stir: it declared the “special military operation” in Ukraine a “holy war”, called for a demographic change in Russia, and for the first time attempted to define the Russian world (russkij mir). It is understood as a “spiritual and cultural-civilizational phenomenon” whose borders transcend those of “great historical Russia”. The Russian world is closely linked to Russian statehood and opposes the evil that is identified with the West. There is no theological argumentation. The term is part of a specific historical and political worldview that has dangerous revisionist implications. The war in Ukraine shows this.
(Osteuropa 5/2024, pp. 87–95)