Editing Anti-Russian sentiment (section)

== As a polemic device ==
The Kremlin and its supporters are sometimes criticised for using allegations of "Russophobia" as a form of [[propaganda]] to counter criticism of government policy.<ref name="Umland">{{cite web|last=Umland|first=Andreas|author-link=Andreas Umland|date=21 January 2016|title=The Putinverstehers' Misconceived Charge of Russophobia: How Western Apology for the Kremlin's Current Behavior Contradicts Russian National Interests|url=http://hir.harvard.edu/the-putinverstehers-misconceived-charge-of-russophobia/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111211046/http://hir.harvard.edu/the-putinverstehers-misconceived-charge-of-russophobia/|archive-date=11 November 2016|access-date=11 November 2016|work=[[Harvard International Review]]}}</ref><ref name="jdpz">{{cite journal |last1=Darczewska |first1=Jolanta|last2=Żochowsky|first2=Piotr |date=October 2015|title=Russophobia in the Kremlin's strategy: A weapon of mass destruction |url=https://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/files/pw_56_ang_russophobia_net.pdf|journal=Point of View|publisher=[[Centre for Eastern Studies|OSW Centre for Eastern Studies]]|issue=56|isbn=978-83-62936-72-4|access-date=11 November 2016}}</ref> Sources critical of the Russian government claim that it is Russian state-owned media and administration who attempt to discredit the "neutral" criticism by generalizing it into indiscriminate accusations of the whole Russian population – or Russophobia.<ref name="jdpz"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Kremlin's Campaign against Russophobia Threatens both Russia and the West, Polish Experts Say|url=http://www.interpretermag.com/kremlins-campaign-against-russophobia-threatens-both-russia-and-the-west-polish-experts-say/|website=www.interpretermag.com|access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aspeninstitute.cz/en/article/4-2015-four-types-of-russian-propaganda/|title=Four Types of Russian Propaganda |publisher=[[Aspen Institute]]|access-date=11 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310112956/http://www.aspeninstitute.cz/en/article/4-2015-four-types-of-russian-propaganda/ |archive-date=10 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2006, poet and essayist [[Lev Rubinstein]] wrote that similarly to the term "[[fascism]]", the term "Russophobia" has become a political sticker slapped onto people who disagree with words or actions of people or organizations who position themselves as "Russian ones" in the ideological, rather than an ethnic or geographical sense.<ref>[https://graniru.org/Politics/Russia/m.113864.html Lev Rubuinstein, "РуСССкие на марше"] ("RuSSSians are Marching"), ''Grani.ru'']</ref>

Russian responses to outside anti-Russian criticism has intensified the growth of contemporary [[Russian nationalism|Russian nationalist]] ideology, which in many ways mirrors its predecessor, [[Soviet nationalism]].<ref name="jdpz"/><ref name="Horvath">{{cite book|title=The legacy of Soviet dissent: dissidents, democratisation and radical nationalism in Russia|last=Horvath|first=Robert|year=2005|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-33320-7|page=262 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SwGor-EgxvsC&pg=PA130}}</ref> Sociologist [[Anatoly Khazanov]] states that there's a national-patriotic movement which believes that there's a "[[Clash of Civilizations|clash of civilizations]], a global struggle between the materialistic, individualistic, consumerist, cosmopolitan, corrupt, and {{ill|decadent West|ru|Гнилой Запад}} led by the United States and the [[Eurasianism|idealist, collectivist, morally and spiritually superior Eurasia led by Russia]]."<ref>{{cite web |title=Contemporary Russian Nationalism between East and West|last=Khazanov|first=Anatoly |author-link=Anatoly Khazanov|year=2012|publisher=[[Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen]]|url=https://www.iwm.at/transit-online/contemporary-russian-nationalism-between-east-and-west |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224184503/https://www.iwm.at/transit-online/contemporary-russian-nationalism-between-east-and-west |archive-date=24 February 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> In their view, the United States wants to break up Russia and turn it into a source of raw materials. The West being accused of Russophobia is a major part of their beliefs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Khazanov|first1=Anatoly M. |author-link1= Anatoly Khazanov |editor1-first=T.V. |editor1-last=Paul |editor1-link= T. V. Paul|others=[[John Ikenberry|G. John Ikenberry]], [[John A. Hall]]|title=The nation-state in question|year=2003|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691115092|pages=96–97|chapter=A State without a Nation? Russia after Empire |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8r_B_iU9qBQC&pg=PA79}}</ref>

[[Joseph Stiglitz]] wrote that these attitudes are reinforced by the failure of the post-Soviet liberal economic reforms, which are perceived to have been influenced by the US Treasury.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stiglitz|first1=Joseph |author1-link=Joseph Stiglitz |title=Putin's illiberal stagnation in Russia offers a valuable lesson|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/03/putins-illiberal-stagnation-in-russia-offers-valuable-lesson-joseph-stiglitz|website=The Guardian |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329025732/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/03/putins-illiberal-stagnation-in-russia-offers-valuable-lesson-joseph-stiglitz |archive-date=29 March 2021|date=3 April 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> A mismatch between U.S. rhetoric about promoting democratic reforms in Russia and actual U.S. actions and policy has been said to cause deep resentment among Russians, helping Russian propaganda to construct a narrative of U.S. malign interference.<ref name="carnegie19thirtyyears">{{cite web|last1=Rumer|first1=Eugene |author2=Sokolsky, Richard|title=Thirty Years of U.S. Policy Toward Russia: Can the Vicious Circle Be Broken?|url=https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2019/06/thirty-years-of-us-policy-toward-russia-can-the-vicious-circle-be-broken?lang=en|website=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |access-date=14 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601190455/https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/06/20/thirty-years-of-u.s.-policy-toward-russia-can-vicious-circle-be-broken-pub-79323 |archive-date=1 June 2022|date=20 June 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Since the 2014 [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexation of Crimea]] and subsequent [[Sanctions against Russia|sanctions]], there was a rapid growth of charges of Russophobia in the official discourse. Use of the term on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website rose dramatically during the period between 2014 and 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019|first=Neil|last=Robinson|title="Russophobia" in Official Russian Political Discourse |url=https://ulir.ul.ie/bitstream/handle/10344/8429/Robinson%2C%20Russophobia.pdf?sequence=2 |website=DeEuropa|language=en |access-date=27 February 2023|archive-date=16 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116155413/https://ulir.ul.ie/bitstream/handle/10344/8429/Robinson%2C%20Russophobia.pdf?sequence=2 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] compared Russophobia to [[antisemitism]].<ref>{{cite news|title=PA Chairman Abbas to meet Russia's President Putin|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/241841|work=Israel National News|date=12 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Netanyahu lashes out at Iran in talks with Putin|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/netanyahu-lashes-out-at-iran-in-talks-with-putin-126528|work=[[Hürriyet Daily News]]|date=30 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Putin Speaks Against Holocaust Denial and Anti-Semitism |url=https://themoscowtimes.com/news/putin-speaks-against-holocaust-denial-and-anti-semitism-60326|work=[[The Moscow Times]] |date=30 January 2018}}</ref> Academic [[Jade McGlynn]] considered conflation of modern Russophobia and Nazi antisemitism to be a part of propaganda strategy that uses historical framing to create a flattering narrative that the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] is a restaging of the [[Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War]].<ref name="mcglynn22bisa">{{cite web |last1=McGlynn |first1=Jade |title=Russian rekindling of the Great Patriotic War |url=https://www.bisa.ac.uk/members/working-groups/resg/articles/russian-rekindling-great-patriotic-war |website=The British International Studies Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601171803/https://www.bisa.ac.uk/members/working-groups/resg/articles/russian-rekindling-great-patriotic-war |archive-date=1 June 2022 |date=8 March 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="mcglynn22spectator">{{cite web |last1=McGlynn |first1=Jade |title=What TV is telling Russians – and why they believe it |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-tv-is-telling-russians--and-why-they-believe-it |website=The Spectator |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220324123857/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-tv-is-telling-russians--and-why-they-believe-it |archive-date=24 March 2022 |date=26 March 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Kathryn Stoner and [[Michael McFaul]] explained the turn to radical nationalism as a strategy to preserve the regime within domestic economical and political pressures, claiming that "To maintain his argument for legitimacy at home, Putin needs... constant confrontation that supports the narrative that Russia is under siege from the West, that Russia is at war with the United States."<ref name="mcfaul15">{{cite journal|last1=Stoner |first1=Kathryn|last2=McFaul|first2=Michael |author2-link=Michael McFaul |title=Who Lost Russia (This Time)? Vladimir Putin |journal=Washington Quarterly|date=2015|volume=38|issue=2 |pages=167–187 |doi=10.1080/0163660X.2015.1064716|s2cid=153400297 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

A Russian political scientist and a senior visiting fellow at the [[George Washington University]] Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies [[Maria Lipman]] said that this narrative was made more convincing by imposing sanctions on Russia and supporting Ukraine with weapons, as well as by statements about weakening Russia made by American establishment, amplified on Russian television.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Chotiner |first1=Isaac |title=Putin Has a Patriotism Problem |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/putins-patriotism-problem |magazine=The New Yorker |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220608111058/https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/putins-patriotism-problem |archive-date=8 June 2022 |date=8 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported effectiveness of using the label of "Russophobia" by Russian propaganda to sustain support for the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|invasion of Ukraine]] by presenting it as an existential confrontation with the West. According to an independent polling agency, "people explain that a significant part of the world is against us and it's only Putin who hopes to hold onto Russia, otherwise we would be eaten up completely. To them it is Russia that is defending itself".<ref name="wapo2206">{{cite news |last=Dixon |first=Robyn |author-link=Robyn Dixon (journalist) |date=7 June 2022 |title=Russians weary of Ukraine war want return to normal life |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/05/russia-war-public-opinion/ |url-status=live |access-date= |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220607003142/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/05/russia-war-public-opinion/ |archive-date=7 June 2022}}</ref>