Ten years of current Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in power have been aimed to strengthen the international role of Russia in the hope that the country recovers its status of great power that the USSR once had.
On the other hand, human rights advocates worry that Russia launched a racist and belligerent nationalism. The message seems to have been that in order to achieve a strong and feared Russia, it may be justifiable to have the apparent lack of democracy and such repressive measures that generate innocent victims.
Putin has been promoting Russian nationalism which many have linked directly to race or ethnic Slav. This has led to the emergence of many ultranationalist factions. Caucasians and Central Asians are the favorite victims of racist violence. Looking back, Stalin was Georgian and is associated with a xenophobic and strong Russia for Russians only.
It is quite ironic that the victory of the USSR in World War II was achieved not only by the Russians and the other national groups living in Russia today. There were various other ethnic groups that fought in the Soviet Army, among them Ukrainians, Georgians, Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Moldovans, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Belarusians, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, and Turkmen. Citizens of other countries also took up arms in the Red Army.
In Russia today, there are roughly 150 ethnic groups that live together. Of the 142 million people in the country, 20 percent are ethnic Russians and not more than twenty million are Muslims. For Russia to get back its once imperial power, it cannot afford to be racist or xenophobic. The country’s history should remind Russians today that the glory of the USSR was hard-earned by the solidarity of various ethnic groups. The present regime in Russia should first and foremost learn the lessons of history.
