Putin has Re-Awakened Russian Messianism, Pastukhov Says
By his annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin has re-awakened the imperial dimension of Russian messianism, a force that has been contained
since 1991 but that now will lead to ever-broader conflicts that will lead either to a Russian victory over all its supposed enemies or the collapse of Russia, Vladimir Pastukhov says.
But at the same time, another form of Russian messianism, a concern with universal social justice, is also being re-awakened, and that represents a potentially even more serious challenge to Putin’s system than the imperial messianism which because of his victory in Crimea is making him into “the messiah” for many Russians, the St. Antony’s College expert adds.
In an article in Novaya Gazeta 25 March, Pastukhov points out that Russia today is populated by “a different people” than it was “all of a month ago,” a people who are “inspired” by a vision which gives them the messianic role that they as a nation have always craved .
“Russians do not fulfil a mission, all the more so when it is unfulfillable; they live it and are its function,” the historian says. Instead, “the missionary spirit was and apparently remains the moving force of Russian history.” It is part of “the Russian subconscious,” and Putin has “re-awakened” in Russians this “beast.” (
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