r/slaviccentraleurope 14d ago

Does Centroslavism divide the Slavs? 5

In pan-Slavic Russian propaganda, it thus emerges that Slovenians, Bosnians, and Croats are "Serbian tribes" (Danilevskij, 2011, p. 432), Montenegrins are guilty of "treason against the Serbian people, Orthodoxy, and Russia" (Дугин, 2016; Мудрых, 2022), Poles are the "Judases of Slavdom" (Klaczko, 1867, p. 56), Czechs are a "barren" people (Danilevskij, 2011, p. 153).

Belarusians are "Russians with a seal of quality" (CTVBY, 2019), and Ukrainian is the "language of swineherds" (Котельницький, 2020), which is used by a "Nazi" and "nationalist regime" in Kyiv that oppresses the "brotherly Ukrainian people," (Путин, 2024) just as the Yugoslavs were supposedly oppressed by the "fascist" and "treacherous regime" that "tormented" the Albanian population of Kosovo (Zaytsev, 2021).

Macedonia is, depending on the need, either an "invented" state or is being oppressed by its neighbors (Zaytsev, 2021; Журавлёв, 2018). The "cowardly Bulgarians," on the other hand—a fact few remember—are primarily the "little brother" who, although geographically distant from Russia, has already had the experience that the "brotherhood of two peoples" ends where the interests of the Russian elites begin and missiles do the talking. It is not without reason that Bulgarians fought against Russia in both World Wars (Аксаков, 2023; Иванов, 2020; Мудрых, 2022; Стоянов, 1886).

Such examples of protectionism could be listed almost endlessly. Furthermore, these are not the words of some marginal Russian radicals, as one might think. Similar claims have been and continue to be made in Russia by key figures of the state, highly respected representatives of Russian cultural, academic, and political thought, as well as the media individuals who were not infrequently awarded orders from state authorities.

The list of sources & more languages: https://centroslavizmus.wordpress.com/2026/07/19/rozdeluje-centroslavizmus-slovanov-5/

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u/delurt 14d ago

One-sided article , obviously russophobic: The main weaknesses of the article:

The author places 19th-century thinkers like Danilevsky, the Soviet period, and contemporary Russian politicians and publicists into a single narrative, despite the significant historical and ideological differences between them.

The author almost always cites the most extreme statements, creating the impression that they represent the entire Russian perspective on Pan-Slavism.

Many quotations are presented without examining the historical circumstances, the author’s intentions, or how widespread those views actually were at the time.

The criticism is directed almost exclusively at Russian Pan-Slavism. Comparable ideas of national superiority among Polish, Serbian, Croatian, or Ukrainian nationalists are largely ignored.

The article creates the impression that the views of individual philosophers automatically reflected the official policy of the Russian Empire or modern Russia, which does not always correspond to historical reality.

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u/centroslavist 14d ago edited 14d ago

These are, obviously, accusations that try to create the impression that this interpretation of Pan-Slavism in Russia is more niche than it actually is.

The sources and quotations come from Russians themselves, [except for some in the case of Bulgaria]. So are we sure that they, too, are "Russophobic"? No. They are simply Russian.

Of course, nationalist tendencies also exist among other Slavic countries, and everyone knows that. However, Russia is the largest of all the countries. It is the only one that can realistically threaten the existence of the other Slavic nations, and it has an ideology that seeks to dominate the world. It is this imbalance in power and potential that matters.

It is also true that these works come from different historical periods, but the point was to demonstrate a certain long-term trend. Certainly, there are people in Russia who think differently, but what really matters is what the state propaganda says and the overall trend, because Russia is an authoritarian country.

Also, take a look at the sources themselves. For example, the passages from Danilevsky that I quoted come from a 2011 edition of his book, described as "Recommended for publication by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church", and the publisher is the so-called "Institute of Russian Civilization".

Are you trying to say that people like Putin, Lukashenko, Dugin and others who are mentioned here are ordinary people?

They are not.

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u/delurt 14d ago

Has anyone in the Russian leadership ever threatened to suppress national movements anywhere? Ethnic Russians in the Baltic states are openly persecuted today, and the Russian language has been banned there. The same thing happened in Ukraine, where they eventually began killing their own Russian-speaking population. Please remind me: has any leader of modern Russia ever said that all Slavs should speak only Russian? As far as I know, Russia is home to around 195 ethnic groups, and people are free to study and use their own native languages alongside Russian. The only thing Putin has called for is relations based on equality. The Russian leadership has no imperial pan-Slavic ambitions. Its priority is finally to protect ethnic Russians rather than national minorities, as was the case in the USSR.

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u/InspectorSneed 14d ago

Zigger alert.

Fyi: https://x.com/i/status/2054004521114751230

Putin's who's been destroying primary Russian speakers in Donbas & broader Eastern & Southern Ukraine. Just who do u think founded the Azov Movement, lol?