Russophilia

Russophilia is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the country, people, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its antonym is Russophobia. In the 19th century, Russophilia was often linked to variants of pan-Slavism, since the Russian Empire and autonomous Serbia were the only two Slavic sovereign states during and after the Springtime of Nations.

In politics, the term has been used to describe political actors who support closer relations with the Russian government or support its policies. Particularly in the Post-Soviet states, Russophile politicians may also support maintaining or increasing Russification policies, such as Alexander Lukashenko.

By country

Armenia

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Republican Party of Armenia, and Prosperous Armenia are the main Pro-Russian political parties in Armenia.

Belarus

Belarus has close political and economic ties with Russia, both being part of the Union State, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Eurasian Economic Union, due to their shared Soviet heritage.

Following the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many observers have described Belarus as a Russian puppet state or a satellite state.

China

The People's Republic of China under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party has supported the Russian Federation closely following international sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine. China had close ties with the Soviet Union prior to the Sino-Soviet split, owing to ideological kinship between the two communist states.

Previous anti-Russian sentiment in China has greatly downgraded, due to perceived common anti-Western sentiment among Russian and Chinese nationalists. Ethnic Russians are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

According to a 2019 survey by the Pew Research Center, 71% of Russians have a favourable view of China. A YouGov survey conducted in the same year found that 71% of the Chinese think Russia has a positive effect on world affairs.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many social media users in China showed sympathy for Russian narratives due in part to distrust of US foreign policy. According to a survey conducted by the Carter Center China Focus in April 2022, approximately 75% of respondents agreed that supporting Russia in the war in Ukraine was in China's best interest. In the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the nationalistic Little Pink movement drew international attention for their role in contributing to the mostly pro-war, pro-Russia sentiments on the Chinese internet.

Finland

The Communist movement in Finland during the Cold War inclined towards pro-Soviet tendencies, of which the Taistoist movement was especially pro-Soviet. In 2023, a former Social Democrat representative Mikko Elo and Mauno Saari created the Russophilic organization ''Naapuriseura'' ('neighbour society').

The Finnish political party Power Belongs to the People (VKK) was unique in its strong support of Russia, being the only pro-Russian party in Finland as of 2022. It protested against sanctions on Russia and supported the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The party has since dissasociated from the connections to Russia after Ano Turtiainen was replaced by Antti Asikainen. The Finnish political activist Johan Bäckman is known for his pro-Russian views and he has recruited Finns to fight for Russia in the war with Ukraine. Bäckman later joined the VKK, led by Ano Turtiainen. Some members of the Finns Party also held pro-Russian views.

Another party, the Truth Party in Finland has also refused to condemn the 2022 war in Ukraine, and it supports stronger relations with Russia.

Germany

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche described Russia as "the only power that has durability in it, which can wait, which can still produce something... the antithesis of that pitiable European petty-state politics and nervousness, with which the foundation of the German has entered its crucial phase..." in his 1895 book '' The Antichrist''.

Many members of the far-right political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), have expressed pro-Russian or pro-Kremlin sentiments on various issues.

India

A poll conducted in summer 2022 shows that Indians most frequently named Russia their most trusted partner, with 43% naming Russia as such compared to 27% who named the US.

Indonesia

Support for Russia remains high among Indonesians, owing to Moscow's perceived ties to Muslims and the Muslim world. Public animosity towards the West has resulted from the wars waged in Afghanistan and Iraq by the US and its allies, and their perceived neglectful treatment of the Palestinians in the territories occupied by Israel.

Some Indonesians have positively compared support for Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Russo-Ukrainian War to support for former president Suharto in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Russophiles are also found among the political left, who support Russia due to inaugural Indonesian president Sukarno's closeness to the Soviet Union. Pro-Russian sentiment is especially strong among members of the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, led by Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri, who publicly criticized Ukraine and president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Iran

According to a December 2018 survey by IranPoll, 63.8% of Iranians have a favorable view of Russia.

Poland

The Slavic Union, Front and Zmiana are Russophilic political parties in Poland.

Romania

Traditionally, relations between Romania and Russia were shaped by the political system applied in both countries. Relations were cordial prior to the 19th century, and Russia helped Romania achieving its independence from the Ottoman Empire, the royal families of both countries later being allied. Relations developed after the Second World War, when Romania fell under the communist umbrella led by the Soviet Union, becoming a satellite state of the USSR. However, after Ceaușescu's rise to power in 1965, relations became strained; Romania became the first country to free itself fully from the Soviet Union, and relations were mostly only cordial, as Ceaușescu promoted its own view of communism rather, inspired by the Chinese and North Korean systems, than the Soviet vision.

After the fall of the Eastern Bloc, Romania became an ally of the United States, joining both NATO and the European Union, which faced criticism from Moscow. Romania's strategic position in NATO was seen undesirable by Russia. As nationalist movements grew in Romania during the early 2020's, parties such as the Alliance for the Union of Romanians or S.O.S. Romania, parties seeking closer ties with Russia, rose to power, inadvertly dragging Romania back to a potential Russian influence zone.

In 2024, presidential elections in Romania were marked by accusations of Russian involvement, after pro-Russian far-right candidate Călin Georgescu won the first round of elections through supposed corrupt means, such as falsifying his budget for the electoral campaign. Due to those accusations, the first round was canceled, and a full investigation is ongoing as of 2025.

Serbia

Russia is popular in Serbia, and many Serbs have traditionally seen Russia as a close ally due to shared Slavic heritage, culture, and the Orthodox faith. According to the European Council on Foreign Relations, 54% of Serbians see Russia as an ally. In comparison, 11% see the European Union as an ally, and only 6% see the United States in the same manner.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, People's Patrol, a far-right group, organized pro-Russian rallies in Belgrade, which were attended by 4,000 people.

In 2017, the inhabitants of the Serbian village of Adžinci renamed their village Putinovo, in honor of Vladimir Putin.

Image:Ruski centar za kulturu i nauku u Beogradu.JPG, Russian Center of Science and Culture (Belgrade)
Image:Dmitry Medvedev in Serbia 20 October 2009-8.jpg, Dmitry Medvedev in National Assembly of Serbia
Image:Russian church in Belgrade 2017.JPG, Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Tašmajdan park, Belgrade
File:Vladimir Putin in Serbia March 2011-39.jpeg, Vladimir Putin in front of Cathedral of Saint Sava
Image:Photo_of_a_mural_in_support_of_Russia's_war_efforts,_outskirts_of_Belgrade,_Serbia.jpg, "Z" symbol in support of Russia's war against Ukraine with an inscription "Russians and Serbs brothers forever"

Ukraine

Following Ukrainian independence in 1991, in the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum 92% (including 55% of ethnic Russians) voted for independence from Moscow, but some Ukrainians, mostly in the east and south of the country, voted to see a more Russophile attitude of the government, ranging from closer economic partnership to full national union. Russia and Ukraine had especially close economic ties, and the Russophilic political party, the Party of Regions, became the largest party in the Verkhovna Rada in the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election, receiving 33% of the votes. It would remain a dominant force in Ukrainian politics, until the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. Following the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the overall attitude of Ukrainians towards Russia and Russians has become much more negative, with most Ukrainians favoring NATO and European Union membership. Their views on Russia would further deteriorate following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in 2016 found that 67% of Ukrainians had a positive attitude to Russians, but that only 8% had a positive attitude to the Russian government.

According to an October 2021 poll of the country's population, 41% of Ukrainians had a "good" attitude towards Russians (42% negatively), while in general 54% of Russians had a positive attitude towards Ukraine.

In 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the pro-Russian sentiment that formerly dominated Ukraine's south and east collapsed. According to polls conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, those with positive attitudes towards Russia plunged from 53% to 4% in the East, and from 45% to just 1% in the south. Conversely, support for Ukrainian membership in NATO skyrocketed, from 36% to 69% in the country's east, and from 48% to 81% in the south. As a result, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace announced that regardless how the war ends, pro-Russian parties and sentiments in Ukraine are "firmly in the past".

Besides politics, there is also increasing support for the removal of symbols of Russian culture in Ukraine, including monuments and streets named after notable Russians, along with limiting Russian literature and music. Massive decommunization campaigns coupled with intensive derussification have been carried out since 2014, most notably the toppling of several statues of Vladimir Lenin (termed Leninfall) and renaming of many places with Soviet-associated names. Since the invasion, Ukrainian cities demolished monuments to Russian writer Alexander Pushkin across the country, and there are also hundreds of renamed placenames due to their affiliation with Russia.

United Kingdom

According to an interview made by the Ukrainian "Rada" TV channel, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson is a Russophile, admiring Russian language and culture, even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Leader of Reform UK and current MP for Clacton, Nigel Farage, has made multiple comments praising Russian president Vladimir Putin and pushing pro-Russian sentiments and occasionally misinformation since the Russo-Ukrainian War since 2014, even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

United States

Many members of the Republican Party in the United States express positive views on Russia. A 2017 poll highlighted that around 32% of respondents had favorable views of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, these numbers surged. A YouGov poll found nearly 62% of Republicans preferred Vladimir Putin over Joe Biden, noting that the former was a stronger leader than the latter. Many notable Republicans, including President Donald Trump, television presenter Tucker Carlson, and incumbent Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene have all expressed admiration for Russia and its leaders.

Vietnam

Favorable perceptions of Russia in Vietnam have 83% of Vietnamese people viewing Russia's influence positively in 2017. This stems from historic Soviet support for North Vietnam and the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. As well as support for Vietnam since 1975 by both the Soviet Union and Russia.

See also

* All-Russian nation
* Eurasian Economic Union
* Eurasianism
* Euroscepticism
* List of pro-Russian political parties
* Nostalgia for the Soviet Union
* Putinism
* Russian avos'
* Russian nationalism
* Russification
* Slavophilia
* Soviet patriotism
* Union State
* White movement
* Z (military symbol)

References

Further reading

* Orest Subtelny. Ukraine. A history. University of Toronto Press. 1994. .

{{Authority control

Admiration of foreign cultures
Culture of Russia
Foreign relations of Russia