Editing Anti-Russian sentiment (section)

====Iran====
{{See also|Iran–Russia relations|Russo-Persian Wars}}

=====16th–18th centuries =====
Anti-Russian sentiment in Iran dates back centuries. The modern historian [[Rudi Matthee]] explains that already by the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid]] period (1501–1736), the Iranians "had long despised Russians for their uncouthness".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Matthee |first1=Rudolph P. |title=The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600–1730 |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-64131-9 |page=221 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5U0yECMV--wC&dq=he+Politics+of+Trade+in+Safavid+Iran%3A+Silk+for+Silver%2C+1600-1730+uncouthness&pg=PA221}}</ref> Russians enjoyed a bad reputation in Iran, where, by the 17th century, they were known as the Uzbegs of Europe, the worst of all Christians, unmannered, unintelligent and perpetually intoxicated.<ref name="Matthee350-351">{{cite journal |last1=Matthee |first1=Rudi |title=Rudeness and Revilement: Russian–Iranian Relations in the Mid-Seventeenth Century |journal=Iranian Studies |date=2013 |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=350–351 |doi=10.1080/00210862.2012.758500|s2cid=145596080 }}</ref> This perception can be traced back to ancient Greco-Roman cosmographical conceptions which had been conveyed to the Islamic world. According to this concept, the world was divided into seven climes; the farther away the concentric clime from the center, the more barbarian its inhabitants were deemed. The notion was also connected to the old concept of [[Gog and Magog]] as found in the [[Quran]], according to which, beyond this boundary lay a murky land inhabited by dimwitted people.<ref name="Matthee350-351"/> Hence, describing this stereotype, in written Safavid sources the denigratory adjective ''rus-e manhus'' ("inauspicious Russia" or "ominous Russia") was coined.<ref name="Matthee350-351"/><ref name="Behrooz49">{{cite book|last1=Behrooz|first1=Maziar |authorlink=Maziar Behrooz|title=Iran at War: Interactions with the Modern World and the Struggle with Imperial Russia|date=2023|publisher=I.B. Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnevEAAAQBAJ|isbn=978-0755637379|page=49}}</ref> Over time, it became a generic term for Iranians referring to Russians.<ref name="Matthee350-351"/>

By the mid-17th century, the term ''rus-e manhus'' designated [[Cossacks]] in particular who created havoc around the [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] littoral, and whom the Iranians did not really distinguish from "real" Russians. By the 18th century, according to Matthee "stereotypes about a primitive people more given to act out of instinct than reason are also likely to have been reinforced by the fact that Iranians, in [[Jonas Hanway]]’s words, probably did not see more of “Russians” than tribal, nomadic peoples living around the Caspian Sea, and of “real” Russians at most uncouth soldiers and illiterate fishermen."<ref name="Matthee350-351"/> However, contemporaneous Iranians were probably no less prone to view Russians as primitive and uncivilized than contemporary English commentators were.<ref name="Matthee356">{{cite journal |last1=Matthee |first1=Rudi |title=Rudeness and Revilement: Russian–Iranian Relations in the Mid-Seventeenth Century |journal=Iranian Studies |date=2013 |volume=46 |issue=3 |page=356 |doi=10.1080/00210862.2012.758500|s2cid=145596080 }}</ref>

Due to said perceptions, 17th-century Russian envoys were treated with occasional rudeness by the Iranians. Most of the mistreatment of said envoys was however grounded in suspicion and resentment about possible hidden objectives and designs by the Russians. However this was a common global view at the time regarding envoys. Envoys and emissaries were basically invariably seen as having (secret) motives and being spies. In fact, it was this very view that prevented the establishment of permanent diplomatic missions in Europe in the early modern period.<ref name="Matthee356"/> Iranian suspicions in the mid-17th century about Russian motives were nevertheless longstanding, ran deep amongst the populace, and were based on genuine concerns.<ref name="Matthee357">{{cite journal |last1=Matthee |first1=Rudi |title=Rudeness and Revilement: Russian–Iranian Relations in the Mid-Seventeenth Century |journal=Iranian Studies |date=2013 |volume=46 |issue=3 |page=357 |doi=10.1080/00210862.2012.758500|s2cid=145596080 }}</ref>

At the time, the Russians tried to present profitable commercial missions as diplomatic embassies, and covertly tried to support Cossack attacks on Iran. The construction of fortresses in the Caucasus however was the most important factor at the time (see also; [[Russo-Persian War (1651-1653)]], with Iranian concerns about Russian plans to subjugate the Caucasus dating back to the mid-16th century. With the rise of the Tsarist realm of [[Peter the Great]] and his aggression against Iran in the first half of the 18th century, such concerns were quickly reinvigorated, and were ultimately prophetic in view of the later [[Russian conquest of the Caucasus|Russian annexation of the Caucasus]] in the course of the 19th century.<ref name="Matthee357"/>

In the course of the 18th century Iranian views of Russians were somewhat adjusted, due to Peter the Great's modernization efforts and expansionism as initiated by [[Catherine the Great]]. However, Iranian views of their northern neighbors as being somewhat bland and primitive were apparently never relinquished.<ref name="Matthee356"/>

=====19th–21st centuries=====
In his book ''Iran at War: Interactions with the Modern World and the Struggle with Imperial Russia'', focusing on the two [[Russo-Persian Wars|Russo-Iranian Wars]] of the first half of the 19th century ([[Russo-Persian War (1804-1813)|1804–1813]], [[Russo-Persian War (1826-1828)|1826–1828]]), the historian [[Maziar Behrooz]] explains that Iranian and Russian elites held a demeaning view of each other prior to the reunification campaigns of [[Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar]] ({{reign}}1789–1797), as well as through the early 19th century.<ref name="Behrooz49"/> They viewed each other as uncivilized and backwards, and thus held each other in contempt.<ref name="Behrooz49"/> For instance, the most commonly used contemporaneous denigratory adjective in Iran for Russians was the aforementioned adjective ''rus-e manhus''.<ref name="Behrooz49"/> The contemporaneous British diplomat, traveller and novelist [[James Justinian Morier]], writing in 1808, noted that the Iranians spoke of Russians with the greatest disdain.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Behrooz|first1=Maziar|authorlink=Maziar Behrooz|title=Iran at War: Interactions with the Modern World and the Struggle with Imperial Russia|date=2023|publisher=I.B. Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnevEAAAQBAJ|isbn=978-0755637379|pages=49–50}}</ref> As a result of aforementioned wars, Russia annexed large parts of Iranian territory in the [[Caucasus]]; With the [[Treaty of Gulistan]] (1813) and [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]] (1828), Iran was forced to cede what is present-day [[Azerbaijan]], [[Armenia]], eastern [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and southern [[Dagestan]] to Russia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kazemzadeh |first1=Firuz |chapter=Iranian relations with Russia and the Soviet Union, to 1921 |editor-last1=Avery |editor-first1=Peter |editor-last2=Hambly |editor-first2=Gavin |editor-last3=Melville |editor-first3=Charles |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |volume=7 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0521200950 |pages=328–330}}</ref> This fuelled anti-Russian sentiment which led to an angry mob storming the Russian embassy in [[Tehran]] and killing everyone in 1829. Among those killed in the massacre was the newly appointed Russian ambassador to Iran, [[Alexander Griboyedov]], a celebrated playwright. Griboyedov had previously played an active role in negotiating the terms of the treaty of 1828.<ref>See [[Peter Hopkirk|Hopkirk, Peter]]. ''[[The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia]]''. New York: Kodansha Globe, 1997, {{ISBN|1-56836-022-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Origins and Conduct of the Russo-Persian War, 1826–1828|first=Alexander|last=Bitis|date=30 November 2006 |doi=10.5871/bacad/9780197263273.001.0001|isbn=9780197263273}}</ref>

Soviet involvement in the [[Iran crisis of 1946|Azerbaijani and Kurdish separatist movements]] also fueled negative attitudes.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/1993-09-01/iran-and-cold-war-azerbaijan-crisis-1946|title=Iran and the Cold War: The Azerbaijan Crisis of 1946|date=28 January 2009|magazine=Foreign Affairs}}</ref> In 2009, negative attitudes to Russia among the Iranian opposition was also observed due to Russian support of the Iranian government.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mackey |first=Robert |date=20 July 2009 |title=For Iran's Opposition, 'Death to Russia' Is the New 'Death to America' |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/why-death-to-russia-is-the-new-death-to-america-for-irans-opposition/ |website=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref> A September 2021 poll done by the [[Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland]] had 42% of Iranian respondents holding an unfavourable view of Russia compared to 56% holding a favourable view.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Nancy Gallagher |author2=Ebrahim Mohseni |author3=Clay Ramsay |date=September 2021 |title=Iranian Public Opinion, At the Start of the Raisi Administration |page= 35 |url=https://cissm.umd.edu/sites/default/files/2021-10/Final-Iranian%20Public%20Opinion%20Sept%202021.pdf |website=Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland}}</ref>