"Russians do not want to be 21st century Jews" - declared in 2006 Gleb Pavlovsky, then one of the Kremlin's spin doctors and today a critic of the Russian government. I was reminded of these words when I read a recent statement by Emmanuel Macron. Namely, the French President said that Russia should not be humiliated.

Macron's point was that a diplomatic solution would have to be found once the war in Ukraine was over, and that meant that the aggressor should be treated as a partner.

This attitude of the French leader is not surprising. And it is not just that the russophilia characteristic of the entire French political class is manifesting itself here. Macron is simply stepping into the shoes of a Kissingerian realist. He is working out how to spare his compatriots the risk of getting involved in a bloody conflict and at the same time how to bring about a ceasefire so that business as usual with Russia can resume.

Russophiles on the right and the left

But there is another thing worth noting. It is the reluctance of left-wing and liberal elites in the West to stigmatise Russia as a foreign, different civilisation. For in their view, this would be precisely politically incorrect humiliation of the Russians as dangerous savages who are shown contempt.

In mainstream Western politics, therefore, the dispute with Russia is defined in terms of a clash between democracy and authoritarianism. This leads to the idea that a change of power in Moscow (Vladimir Putin stepping down in favour of a conciliatory politician) would be enough to make the problem of Russia's aggressive policy disappear.

This is, of course, an illusion. In Russia, supporters of peace are in a clear minority. There is no politician who can realistically take power on their behalf. Instead, a significant proportion of Russians are advocates of escalating hostilities. While negotiation is the primary means of political communication for Westerners, violence is the primary means for Russian society. And this state of affairs is one of the manifestations of civilisational differences. The fact that many politicians in western countries find it difficult to accept this fact makes them helpless in the face of the war in Ukraine.

Returning to French russophilia, it should be noted that it comes in various forms.

The right-wing one expresses the conviction that Anglo-Saxon countries are immersed in liberalism and consumerism, and that they are counterbalanced by a conservative and spiritual Russia. In this context, the United States emerges as France's main opponent, as a state of rotten capitalism accused of pursuing a policy of global expansion.

Left-wing russophilia, on the other hand, is caused by the conviction that Russia is different from the West, which, however, should not be feared and, on the contrary, should be praised (just as "non-heteronormativity" is praised in some circles as opposed to "heteronormativity"). But another aspect of this affection turns out to be more important - one that is associated with the 20th century attitude of Western progressives to the peoples of the Third World. They saw them as a force opposing Western colonialism as a form of political enslavement and economic exploitation. Today, however, Russia is sometimes cast as a country fighting for a "multipolar" world architecture. In the imaginarium of French politicians, this means that it seeks to curb American hegemony perceived precisely as colonialism.

In France, therefore, both on the right and on the left, anti-American affect matters. Macron's statement in 2018 is significant. The French president announced then that Europe needs - as an alternative to NATO - its own army, capable of defending it not only against Russia and China, but also ... the US. Not surprisingly, such "symmetrism" was positively received by Putin at the time.

The Kremlin's propaganda power

Of course, today no one from the political establishment in the West would dare to openly demonstrate their russophilia, since it is common knowledge that Russian troops commit massive war crimes. But the reluctance to disown Russia as a separate, hostile civilisation is noticeable - as if it were a matter of refraining from violating some taboo.

And this reticence on the part of the left-wing and liberal elites in the West is in keeping with the Kremlin's strategy, which in turn includes accusing the West of holding downright racist prejudices against Russia.

One example of this charge can be found in one of Dmitry Medvedev's posts on Telegram in May. In it, the Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former Russian President compared Olaf Scholz to Adolf Hitler.

Announcing to the world that russophobia is flourishing in the West, which is moreover like German anti-Semitism during the Third Reich, still has a powerful propaganda effect. And so it goes, even if the images from Bucha and other Ukrainian towns are now weakening the credibility of this message. For the Kremlin still has its agents of influence in Western countries. And they already know how to manipulate political correctness.

– Filip Memches
– translated by Tomasz Krzyżanowski

TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and jornalists