Why do Russian Americans love Putin?

Фото: Depositphotos

The Russian-speaking diaspora in the United States is quite large and includes a variety of waves - from descendants of white immigrants to those who arrived just a couple of years ago. However, one of the first things that strikes the recent emigrant in the Russian diaspora is the surprisingly high level of support among “Russian Americans”. Vladimir Putin. It is especially surprising to see such sentiments among people who left in Soviet times, not so much “for sausage”, as for freedom. However, even among them, the percentage of supporters of a far from democratic president and a far from free modern Russia are quite high.

More than once, publicists have noted that in the Russian diaspora in the United States not only Putin’s support is extremely great, but, as a result, negative in relation to the host country. Sometimes this negative results in an absolutely irrational hatred, given that many Russians in the United States already have American citizenship, some are political asylum, someone lives on welfare. However, among such people there are those who want the day when Russia "will destroy the damned Pindos." In this case, they are not going to return home.

Of course, the Russian diaspora is not homogeneous, and in it there are quite decent people for whom it is unthinkable to wish for someone to be destroyed, and even more so for the country by which they live. However, the percentage of “haters” in the Russian diaspora is still quite high. The question arises, How does the Russian community differ from others, and how does such moods form in it? Obviously, this phenomenon cannot be explained solely by Kremlin propaganda: propaganda is effective for those who live in Russia and have never seen foreign life with their own eyes. Reality, by definition, should influence a person more strongly than television, but here we often see the opposite picture.

Alexey Tsvetkov in his article "Lessons of the Diaspora" consistently proves that today the Russian diaspora in the United States is completely absent cultural identity. "It seems that today's Russian alien has completely lost his desire to independently build public institutions.”, He complains, comparing the life of people from Russia with Ukrainian immigrants, who, on the one hand, much better integrated into American society, and on the other hand, created many cultural, charitable and other organizations that allow them to preserve their national identity.

For my part, I agree with Tsvetkov that the Russian culture in emigration is much poorer than the Ukrainian one (although there are exceptions). However, the inability to create bright and numerous forms of cultural life does not lead to the loss of Russian identity by emigrants from Russia. On the contrary, the level of cohesion of such emigrants is also quite high. The inability to organize themselves and create associations of the “horizontal” type, without specifying “from above” did not lead to the fact that the Russians assimilated among the Americans or lost their identity.

This partly explains the significant number of supporters of Putin, even in the Russian diaspora in the United States. In many respects, in my opinion, the roots of this phenomenon lie in the weak traditions of civil society development and “horizontal” ties noted by Tsvetkov, which led many Russians to chose to unite abroad around the organizations created by the Kremlinessentially affiliated with Russian consulates and representative offices. Moreover, association in such organizations takes place on the basis of political, rather than cultural factors, in this case: support for Putin and the war he unleashed.

An additional incentive for this kind of unification is the fact that the attitude towards emigrants as traitors to the Motherland has been instilled in Russia in the last decade with almost the same stubbornness as in Soviet times: “Left - means betrayed. This installation settles in the subconscious of people so deeply that it generates a completely illogical guilt. It is clear that a few years ago, anti-American propaganda was not as intense as it is now. As a result, for many people common sense and personal motives took over, they threw off propaganda arguments and still left, but the feeling of guilt remained in the subconscious.

It should not be forgotten that in Russia, where there is no inviolable private property and independent courts, where a person does not feel protected by the law, loyalty to the state becomes the only support in life for him. For many Russians, with the exception, of course, of those who deliberately embarked on the path of dissidence, the awareness of their conflict with the state was a rather traumatic factor. In the end, they just decided to use the benefits of the civilized world and earn more money, but they are not ready to bear the label of "traitors"!

Therefore, in many ways, any form of association imposed by the Kremlin, such people perceive with joy. Participation in the life of such organizations for them becomes visible and almost official restoration of communication with the former Motherland and the basis for confidence that no one can now call them traitors. It is especially important for this type of emigrants to see the connection of organizations close to them in spirit with the Russian consulates, that is, in fact, with the state itself. Thus, their internal dilemma is resolved, and they still have the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of America and at the same time feel that they are “forgiven” by Russia, that is, sit quietly on 2 chairs. At the same time, they do not even think that this dilemma itself is artificially caused, and if it were not for the efforts of the Russian state, so beloved by them, it would not have arisen in principle. Truly, the Stockholm syndrome is a godsend for a spy.

Фото: Depositphotos

In addition, an important psychological factor contributing to this doublethink is banal envy. As an attribute of a dysfunctional society, it is really inherent in many Russians, and, worst of all, does not disappear with the acquisition of material well-being. Today, the anecdotal phrase has already widely spread: “How could such a clean, rich, well-groomed country like America get to the Americans?". Unfortunately, this is precisely how many American “Putinists” think.

Even the presence of your own home and maintaining the seemingly quite American way of life cannot change this feeling of deprivation. A Russian emigrant still feels that his own childhood or that of his parents passed in a different, much worse environment; that the combination of natural and man-made beauty, so often observed in American landscapes, is a product not of his native, but of a different culture.

However, since the coveted collapse of America (Israel, Europe, etc., it’s necessary to underline) does not come at all, the cult of force becomes compensating for the sense of deprivation, and Putin is the visible expression of which. It should be said that the very personality of the Russian president really fits into the image of the “brave macho”. Brutal, self-confident, mocking and sharp, Putin looks stronger than intelligent American presidents, like Barack Obama. However, he is more restrained and cunning than, say, Donald Trump, has a kind of "KGB charm", and thus more able to attract its own way of intelligent people than the newly elected US president. The feeling of belonging to this image gives many Russian émigrés a sense of moral superiority over the object of their envy. Unfortunately, as long as this latent envy and desire to rely on force will be strong, love for leaders like Putin among the Russian emigration will also remain rather high.

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