Anti-American sentiment in Russia

As early as the late 1940s, there had been decrees and orders issued by Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party to promote anti-American sentiments within the Soviet public.
For instance, Central Committee document #148 of 1949 read:[4]

Article-1

1. In print news media such as "Pravda", "Izvestiya", "Trud", "Literaturnaya Gazeta", "Komsomolskaya Gazeta", "Bolshevik" and others, organize systematic publications of materials, articles and pamphlets, unmasking aggressive plans of American Imperialism, inhumane character of social and political order of the US, debunking American propaganda "fables" about American "prosperity", showcasing deep controversies in US economy, mendaciousness of bourgeois democracy, the idiocy of modern American bourgeois culture and morals.

Article-15

15.The following themes should provide the basis for anti-American propaganda in press, radio and movies:
...
Capitalistic monopolies of US inspirators of aggression policy ...
US stronghold of colonial enslavement and colonial wars ...
Monopolies feed fascism on American soil ...
Democracy in US hypocritical coverup for absolute rule of capital ...
Myth of high standards of living for all social classes in US...
Myth of universal equality and equal opportunities for everyone in US...
Degeneration of American culture...
Decay of cinematography in US...
Corrupt American press...
Crime in US...
...

"Decaying West" or "Rotting West" (rus: "Загнивающий запад") was the term used in the Soviet era to refer to the social order and moral norms in US and other Western countries, which were allegedly corrupt and rapidly eroding.

According to Russian media (especially major federal TV networks), the current Russian opposition has strong ties to the US and its allies. Furthermore, many government channels systematically broadcast documentaries, TV programs and journalistic researches, which claim that many opposition leaders are directly funded and supported by the US government, with an ultimate goal to destabilize the political and constitutional order in Russia.

Accusations have intensified during and after 2011 Russian legislative election, as well as 2012 Russian presidential election, which resulted in 2011–2013 Russian protests by the opposition.

In 2012, the major Russian national TV network NTV, created a series of documentaries called Anatomy of Protest (rus: Анатомия протеста) claiming that 2011–2013 Russian protests, organized by the opposition leaders, were carefully watched and influenced by some Western nations and the US in particular.

Some Russian officials interviewed in the film openly state that the US is actively working on bringing extremist groups to power in Russia, which would allow it to discredit Russia on the global stage and even to justify a military strike on the country.[11][12]

In July 2012, the Russian foreign agent law was introduced. It requires nonprofit organizations that receive foreign donations and engage in "political activity" to be labeled as "foreign agents", which carries, in Russian, strong associations with Cold War-era espionage.[13] Organizations are obliged to mark all their publications and begin each oral statement with a disclosure that it is being given by a foreign agent.[14] They are subject to inspections and raids. Several US-based organizations have been targeted including Human Rights Watch.

In September 2012, Russian authorities demanded the end of operations of the United States Agency for International Development. According to officials, some activities conducted by the organization were hostile and undermined Russian sovereignty.[15][16]

In May 2015, the Russian undesirable organizations law was introduced. Russian prosecutors are able to target foreign groups whose "undesirable activities" are deemed to threaten "state security" or the "basic values of the Russian state". Given a notice from the prosecutors, such organizations have to disband.

Violators face fines or prison terms of up to six years. People cooperating with such entities are subject to fines and can be banned from entering Russia.[17] Duma deputy Aleksandr Tarnavsky, one of the legislation's coauthors, stated, "I do not think that there is a particular company that has to fall under this list. But if a company suddenly starts causing a lot of trouble, starts acting arrogantly and impudently, then in theory it could fall under the list of undesirable organizations."[18] The law was used to target the National Endowment for Democracy and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

According to some popular Russian political writers and scientists, there is a centuries-long geopolitical standoff between Russia and Western nations, especially with Anglo-Saxon states such as the US and UK, which have been openly and covertly working on destroying Russia by any means since the times of The Great Game.

• Distinguished political scientist, Sergey Kurginyan (rus: Сергей Кургинян) believes that the US is currently engaged in further expanding its "neocolonial empire" and that Russia is the only hurdle on the way to achieving those goals.[19][20]
• Popular political writer Nikolai Starikov (rus: Николай Стариков) believes many major geopolitical events of the last centuries, including the dissolution of Soviet Union, are direct results of covertly planned and enacted plans by US and/or the UK.[21][22][23] In many of his books, such as Who's funding disintegration of Russia - From Decembrists to Mujahideens (rus: Кто финансирует развал России - от декабристов до моджахедов), Starikov attempts to prove that since early 19th century, major political shocks in Russia had powerful foreign sponsors and planners, particularly the U.S. and U.K.[24]
• Vladimir Putin's top security adviser Nikolai Patrushev (rus: Николай Патрушев) states that the United States "would much rather that Russia did not exist at all as a country," because "we possess great [natural] resources. The Americans believe that we control them illegally and undeservedly because, in their view, we do not use them as they ought to be used."[25] Patrushev also referenced "Madeleine Albright's claim 'that neither the Far East nor Siberia belong to Russia.'" There is no record of Albright having made such a remark. Instead, it can be traced back to a psychic employed by the FSB who claimed to have read the thoughts in Albright's mind.[26][27]

There are some political writers, active/retired general officers as well as other public figures in Russia, who openly claim that war with the US or NATO is imminent.[28][29][30][31]
Some believers:

• Head of State Duma Defense Committee, Admiral Vladimir Komoedov (rus: Владимир Комоедов):
  Admiral Kovoedov believes that after a war with Iran, the US will conduct a nuclear strike on Russia.[32]
• Retired major general Alexander Vladimirov (rus: Александр Владимиров) believes that the only factor that stops war from unravelling today is Russia's nuclear arsenal.[33]
• Popular political scientist Sergey Kurginyan (rus: Сергей Кургинян) believes that after completing its mission in Syria and Iran, the West will definitively conduct some force operation against Russia.[34]
• Russian Academy of Sciences International and Political Research Division Senior Research Scientist, and Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor Vyacheslav Dashichev (rus: Вячеслав Дашичев) strongly believes that tensions between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas, will eventually lead to a war with the West, the US in particular.[35]
• CNews journal columnist Mihail Levkevich (rus: Михаил Левкевич) suggests that the military exercise "Operation Chimichanga", conducted by the Pentagon on April 4, 2012, was in reality a major rehearsal of U.S. attack on Russia and China.[36][37]

Many Russian top government officials and experts, believe that in many occasions Russia is being attacked by nonconventional warfare means.

• Chief Sanitary Inspector of Russia Gennadiy Onishchenko:
  In 2013, Russia's chief food and drug inspector accused the US of conducting a biowarfare against Russia[38] According to Mr. Onishenko, the Georgian biological laboratory built with US cooperation and funding "is an important element of the US offensive military-biological potential". Earlier, high ranking government official claimed that the outbreak of African swine fever in Russia was planned sabotage, originating from the American lab in Georgia.[39][40]

In modern Russia, there is a common and widespread notion that Western nations (especially the US and UK) have been and still are actively engaged in an information assault on Russia. Many public figures openly state that the West is using a wide range of means to discredit the nation on a global stage.

• Arkady Mamontov (rus: Аркадий Мамонтов) is a popular journalist who hosts a show called Special Correspondent (rus: "Специальный корреспондент"), every Tuesday on Rossiya 1.
  He claims that the performance of Pussy Riot in Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was a carefully orchestrated information war operation against Russia with the aim of offending Russian Christians and discrediting the country worldwide. In a series of special TV programs called Instigators (rus: Провокаторы), journalists gathered public on talk shows, to unmask the alleged true faces of the Pussy Riot members and to unveil true foreign the masterminds behind the "assault". Mamontov and the public gathered on the programs believe that Eastern Orthodox Church is one of the pillars on which a rising Russia will stand and that the western countries are trying to undermine it.[41][42][43]

According to many Russian scholars, government officials as well as media, economic prosperity and wellbeing of United States is solely based on unfair advantages gained from US dollar's reserve currency status, dollarization of other countries economies, along with neocolonial wars for resources and predatory macroeconomic behavior.
Proponents of the view:
High ranked government officials

• Vladimir Putin, in August 2011, accused the US of living like parasite off the global economy and the monopoly of the dollar.[44]
• Member of Parliament from United Russia, Yevgeni Fedorov (rus: Евгений Федоров) believes that for decades, the US has been violating Russia's sovereignty and claims that currently, Russia is disgracefully paying tribute money to the "empire". In 2012, he drafted a bill to ban the Russian government from investing oil profits into US dollar-denominated securities or any other foreign currency.

Media

• Economist and the president of Different Reforms Center (rus: центр Другие реформы), Andrey Godzinskiy (rus: Андрей Годзинский): believes that Russia is currently being economically occupied and that the US dollar is ultimate tool.[45]
• Popular Pundit and a host of "Odnako" TV program on Russian national network Channel One, Mikhail Leontyev, from 2008 to 2011, Leontyev created a series of documentaries, "Big American Hole". In the films, popular pundit claims that American economic prosperity is solely based on predatory economic behavior, which is supported only by military might. The documentaries explicitly state that the latest US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were purely the wars for resources. Along with author, many guests and participants in the films, also claim that the US is getting great benefits from dollarization of various countries' economies, possible only by intimidation of countries by US military might.[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]
• Journalist and filmmaker Ilya Kolosov (rus: Илья Колосов), in cooperation with Andrey Godzinskiy, from 2006 to 2009, created a series of documentaries called "Priceless Dollar" (rus: "Бесценный Доллар"). Authors claim that after World War II, U.S. has cunningly gained unfair economic advantage by exploiting the dollar as a reserve currency. Journalists also claim that US has been deliberately running big trade deficits for unfairly consuming goods produced by other countries and paying for them with allegedly worthless dollars. The documentaries have been showcased on TV Tsentr[54][55]

Academia

• Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), on December 19, 2013, held a conference titled "Global social parasitism (100 years to U.S. Federal Reserve System)" (rus: "Глобальный социальный паразитизм (к 100-летию Федеральной Резервной Системы США))". The agenda of the conference was to discuss broad range of issues centered around global parasitic behavior of the US, global financial institutes such as IMF, World Bank and Fed serving that behavior, as well as the imminent collapse of dollarized economies.[56][57][58]
  Participants/Contributors:
  • RAS Central Economic Mathematical Institute
  • RAS Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
  • D.S.Lvov Institute of New Economy
  • Center for Scientific Politics and Ideology
  • Academy of Geopolitical Problems

The imminent disintegration of United States is a widespread belief in Russia. According to the theory, the United States is torn by deep controversies in politics, economy, ethnic relations and overall society. This theory gained high popularity after the 2012 state petitions for secession.

• Popular political scientist and ex-KGB officer Igor Panarin (rus: Игорь Панарин), since 1998, has claimed that the United States will soon cease to exist. In 2009, he published a book The Crash of the Dollar and the Disintegration of the USA (rus: Крах доллара и распад США) In the book, he also claims that by the time the US falls apart, Russia will regain its former world stance and reintegrate former Soviet states under its rule, on the basis of Eurasian Union.
• A member of the Federal Council of Party Action, political activist and journalist Maxim Kalashnikov (rus: Максим Калашников) claims that the United States will split into four to six independent countries.[59]

Prominent believers:

• Chairman of Printed Media Distribution Association Board, Alexander Oskin (rus: Александр Оськин),is convinced that the collapse and dissolution of the United States is imminent. He believes that the US is suffering from tremendous tensions between, whites and nonwhites, rich and poor, Christians and Muslims, etc. In addition, outrageous suppression and violation of human rights by the US government will eventually strengthen secessionist processes that will shatter the United States into pieces.[60]
• A journalist of Ren-TV, Igor Prokopenko (rus: Игорь Прокопенко), in his television program Military Secret (rus: - Военная Тайна), claimed that the US is suffering from tremendous amount of social, ethnic and other tensions. According to Prokopenko, its Asian and Mexican populations grew well over 20-30% and that those racial and ethnic groups would demand secession, which will eventually result in collapse and disintegration of the United States. He showcases former Texas governor Rick Perry's secessionist speech of 2009.[61]

9/11 conspiracy theories are popular in Russia. According to many, the terror attacks were well planned and conducted by the US to justify the wars for oil in the Middle East.[62][63][64]

• The president of Geopolitical Problems Academy, Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov (rus: Леонид Ивашов), claims that the 9/11 attacks were planned and executed provocations by US special services in close cooperation with Freemasonry members. He believes that American special services have carefully selected the terrorists based on their ethnic origin and fully funded and coordinated the operation. The ultimate goal of the acts was to further strengthen a global domination of the US by establishing strong presence in the oil-rich Middle East region.[65]

The Dulles Plan or the Dulles Doctrine (Russian: План Даллеса or Доктрина Даллеса) is the central document of a conspiracy theory according to which the CIA chief Allen Dulles had developed a plan for United States to destroy the Soviet Union during the Cold war by covertly corrupting the cultural heritage and moral values of the Soviet nation. The plan was first published in Russia shortly after the dissolution of the USSR and was often quoted by prominent Russian politicians, journalists and writers.

The Harvard Project (rus: Гарвардский Проект) or Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System was a 1950s research project funded by the USAF and conducted by Harvard University to study the economic and political order of Soviet society. However, some Russian political scientists and writers strongly believe that the main purpose of the project was to develop psychological and other means of influence over the Soviet people. According to believers, this research led the US to develop psychological and information warfare techniques, intensively used against the Soviet Union to destroy it.[66] Some believe that those techniques are still being heavily used against Russia, with the purpose of destroying and partitioning the country into several parts, which will be eventually annexed by the US and its allies.[67]

Moon landing conspiracy theories are widely spread in Russia. According to 2011 polls conducted by Russian Public Opinion Center, 40% of Russians do not believe that US astronauts have ever landed on the moon.[68]

After the Rose Revolution, the ex-Soviet Republic of Georgia changed its geopolitical preferences and started cooperating much more closely with NATO and the United States. That led the US and NATO to conduct very close cooperative work on the issues of military training and equipment with Georgia, which had unresolved territorial disputes, including South Osetia.

In August 2008, those disputes resulted in a five-day Russia–Georgia war. The conflict spurred wave of anti-American sentiments in Russia.

According to Putin, the war was directly related to presidential elections in the US [72]

The official position was that the US and its allies deliberately armed Georgia.[73]

Some Russian officials called the war a genocide, accusing the US of supporting such inhumane actions.[74]

Shortly after the conflict, media producer and member of State Duma, Konstantin Rykov, created a documentary called War 08.08.08. Art of Betrayal. He claims that Georgia was trained and led by the U.S. into war with South Osetia and Russia. The reason being that the US (then under George W. Bush) was interested in increasing presidential candidate John McCain's ratings, and demonizing Russia as an aggressor was key to it.[75] The documentary had over a million views in first five days after being published online.[76]

The Arab Spring has also acquired a very negative perception in Russia. Many of state officials and public figures expressed their concerns and condemnations.

• President Dmitry Medvedev, on February 22, 2011, said:[77]

That kind of scenario, they were preparing for us, but now they will try to enact it even harder. In any case, that scenario won't pass. But everything that's happening there, will directly affect us for decades to come.

• First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Sechin stated that there were secret forces destabilizing Egypt. He urged to pay special attention to the role of Google in those events.

Starting with 2014, the events following the Euromaidan, the international response to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine spurred a wave of anti-American sentiments in Russia.

At a government-organized "Anti-Maidan" demonstration in February 2015 gathering 35,000 people, the Maidan unrests were attributed to the United States. "Die, America" banners were on display and a speech stated, "Maidan is the smile of the American ambassador who, sitting in his penthouse, is happy to see how brother is killing brother."[78][79][80] In July 2015, Putin's top security adviser Nikolai Patrushev stated that "the US themselves started the conflict in Ukraine."[25]

According to polls by the independent Levada Center, in January 2015, 81 percent of Russians held negative views of the United States, a number that had nearly doubled over the previous year and that was by far the highest negative rating since it started tracking those views in 1988.[81] [82]

According to some Russian experts, anti-American sentiments are driven largely by domestic political climate and has little relationship to US foreign policy.[83]

In response to the growing anti-Americanism after the South Osetia War in the Russian intellectual-political class, the director of the Institute of Globalization and Social Movements, Boris Kagarlitsky, said, "Ironically, one of the dominant trends here is that we are anti-American because we want to be exactly like America. We are angry that Americans are allowed to invade minor nations and we are not."[84]

In 2013, journalist Vladimir Posner shared his opinion that the anti-Americanism is "harmful for Russia" and has solely irrational reasons. One is that Russian people have still not forgiven United States for "winning the Cold War" (in his opinion, the Cold War, which is not thought by Russians to be lost on the surface, is felt by them lost deep in their minds and is lost in fact). He considers the anti-American rhetoric by Vladimir Putin made to be approved by the nation.[85]

According to Moscow Carnegie Center Director Dmitriy Trenin, anti-Americanism in Russia is becoming the basis for official patriotism. Further researcher states that the Russian ruling elite have now stopped pretending that it follows the West and cherishes its declared values. Now, Moscow openly states that its values are not completely common with modern Western values in such fields as democracy, human rights, national sovereignty, role of government, the church, and the nature of family.[86]

The Heritage Foundation cites that anti-American rhetoric is currently a standard feature of the majority of Russian mass media broadcasts[87] and cites, "The Kremlin is using anti-Americanism as a strategic tool for pursuing domestic and foreign policy goals. Through media controlled or owned by the state, the Russian government is deliberately spreading poisonous anti-U.S. propaganda at home and abroad, blaming many of Russia's problems on the West, particularly the United States. The partial success of this policy exposes a number of serious failures in U.S. public diplomacy, which has been in decline since the end of the Cold War."[88]