Russia is not as conservative as it portrays itself—the protection of “traditional values”—merely a propaganda trick

The Kremlin’s propaganda intention to portray itself as some sort of great protector of traditional and family values also reaches Macedonian citizens through social networks and a part of them accept those moves from Russia with admiration. Some of them equate Russia with an “Orthodox Noah’s Ark,” while some do not fail to attack the European Union, claiming it spreads destructive, instead of traditional values. However, the truth is quite different

 

Author: Ana Anastasovska

 

On the 21^st of September, the Republic of North Macedonia found itself on Russia’s blacklist as a country that spreads “destructive values contrary to Russian spiritual and moral values.”

The list contains 47 countries, including almost all of the EU member states, with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia, as well as all NATO countries, except Turkey. The list now also includes Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Micronesia and The Bahamas, as well as Ukraine.

The document was signed by the Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on the 20^th of September and was issued in accordance with the decree of President Vladimir Putin of August 19 of this year, which provides for a simplified procedure for foreigners to move to Russia, for those who do not accept “destructive neoliberal attitudes in their countries that contradict traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.”

In line with its “firm defense of traditional values,” Russia, on the 25^th of September banned foreigners whose countries allow gender reassignment from adopting Russian children.

The authors of the law describe it as a measure of protection for the adopted Russian children against “potentially dangerous conditions” in the countries of the NATO, which supports Ukraine in the war with Russia.

This decision aims to protect childhood and traditional values. We must protect our children from the dangers that can occur when they are adopted or raised by citizens of foreign countries, where gender reassignment is allowed, said Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, after the vote, MIA published.

Last year, Russia implemented a ban preventing its citizens from changing their gender, either through documents or medically, after which measures against the LGBTQ community in the country increased.

On many occasions, Putin has justified his military aggression against Ukraine, among other things, with the “defense of the traditional and family values” that the “West wants to destroy.” According to Putin, western countries are those that want to destroy family and Orthodoxy by “blessing same-sex unions” and “endorsing pedophilia.”

They never stop lying and distorting historical facts as they attack our culture, the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional religious organizations in our country. Look what they are doing to their own people. It is all about the destruction of the family, of cultural and national identity, perversion and abuse of children, including pedophilia, all of which are declared normal in their life. They are forcing the priests to bless same-sex marriages. Bless their hearts, let them do as they please … Millions of people in the West realize that they are being led to a spiritual disaster. Frankly, the elite appear to have gone crazy, and it looks like there is no cure for that. But like I said, these are their problems, while we must protect our children, which we will do. We will protect our children from degradation and degeneration, said Putin, among other things, during his Address to the Federal Assembly in February of 2023.

The Kremlin’s propaganda intention, to portray itself as some sort of great protector of traditional and family values also reaches Macedonian citizens through social networks and a part of them accept those moves from Russia with admiration. Some of them equate Russia with an “Orthodox Noah’s Ark”, while some do not fail to attack the European Union, claiming it spreads destructive, instead of traditional values.

Manipulative tactics of the Kremlin

It is a myth that the West wants to destroy “traditional values”, in other words, that “Russia is fighting a holy war against godless Satanists in Ukraine to protect Christianity and traditional values,” assesses EUvsDisinfo in its analysis on the Russian war in Ukraine.

Often, pro-Kremlin disinformation pundits, particularly Vladimir Solovyov, deploy this disinformation narrative in conjunction with unfounded accusations against Ukraine for allegedly attempting to destroy the Orthodox Church. This manipulative tactic picked up steam in 2019 when the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was granted the status of an independent church and again in November 2022 when the Ukrainian government announced it would draw up a law banning churches affiliated with Russia, writes EUvsDisinfo.

The demonization of Ukraine and it western allies as godless goes hand in hand with pro-Kremlin disinformation that the West wants to destroy “traditional values.”

Together, they portray Russia as the protector of these values. This disinformation narrative of protecting the threatened values is steeped in homophobia that often verges on outright hate speech, concludes EUvsDisinfo.

Russia is no conservative haven

The truth is, however, entirely different, which is that Russia is one of the least religious societies in the world, with only 9 percent of Russians attending religious services at least somewhat regularly, according to a 2022 survey by the Moscow-based Levada Center, Foreign Policy writes in its analysis titled “Russia is no conservative haven.”

Contrary to that, nearly a third of Americans attend church frequently. Only 1,4 million Russians—that is to say only 1 percent of the population have attended the newest Christmas services. The Russian state also persecutes Christians who do not adhere to Russian Orthodoxy, including Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and, of course, anyone affiliated with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Nor is Russia a bastion of what true conservatives would consider traditional values, according to Foreign Policy. Based on data calculated by the Guttmacher Institute, the Russian abortion rate from 2015 to 2019 was nearly four times higher than that of the United States and more than twice as high as that of Ukraine.

Russia, also has the fourth-highest divorce rate in the world—60 percent higher than in the United States and more than 50 percent higher than in Ukraine.

Those among the U.S. and European far right who project their own ideals onto Russian society ignore the obvious and copious evidence. The false image of a God-fearing Russia is hardly accidental. It is the consequence of systematic efforts by Putin and his propagandists to craft talking points for the global right—an effort that has accelerated since Russia launched its all-out war on Ukraine in 2022. By projecting Russians and the Russian state as deeply religious and steeped in tradition—and by denouncing the Western establishment for its supposed attacks on traditional values—Kremlin propaganda has made serious inroads among cultural and religious conservatives in the United States and elsewhere. This has helped create some measure of sympathy for Russia’s war against Ukraine among certain segments of the far right, which see Putin as a powerful voice on their side of the culture wars, concludes Foreign Policy in its analysis.

The idea of disintegration of the West, set against Russia, which is the “guardian” of decency and morality, emanates from the very top of the Kremlin. According to a 2015 analysis by the European Council on Foreign Relations, Putin took this position as early as 2013, condemning the “Euro-Atlantic” countries for their moral decadence and immorality.

One clever propaganda trick was to enhance the image of the evil West by merging together the social conservative and the anti-Western posture. In this way, the West and Westernisers, gay people, liberals, contemporary artists and their fans, those who did not treat the Russian Orthodox Church with due respect, and those who dared to doubt Russia’s unblemished historical record were all presented as one “indivisible evil,” a threat to Russia, its culture, its values, and its very national identity, states the analysis of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

 

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