Ruscism

**Ruscism** (; ), or **Raschism**, is a new word formed by combining _Russia_ and _fascism_. Those who support Ruscism are called **Ruscists**, or **Raschists**.

## Overview

Ruscism refers to a unique form of 21st-century Russian state ideology that features authoritarianism, extreme nationalism and aggressive imperialism.

### Usage

The word has gained popularity among Eastern Europeans and Western academics since Russia started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, who observe that supporters of Ruscism in Russia (and among the Russian diaspora) tend to reject democracy and see the Russian race as so superior that they are entitled to invade Russia's former colonies. They also miss the Soviet Union (1922 – 1991) for its vast territory and sphere of influence, which stretched from East Germany to Far East Asia.

### Current situation

In Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, traces of Ukrainian culture and identity have been systematically erased, e.g. Holodomor memorials replaced with Russian monuments, which has been seen by critics as "a classic example of how the oppressor uses imperial symbols to mark the space of the oppressed".

Particularly, 40,000 Russian citizens of Russian, Buryat, Tuvan and Caucasian origin had been brought into Mariupol by summer 2023. Similar to this also happened in Crimea after its 2014 Russian takeover, where a million Russians had been brought in by Putin's regime.

### Neo-Nazism

Some Ruscists are also Neo-Nazis, including the Wagner Group, Russian Imperial Movement, Aleksei Milchakov, and Yan Petrovsky, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Finland on March 14, 2025 for his war crimes in Luhansk committed on September 5, 2014.

## Western views

Putin's regime in Russia is based on Ruscism. Many scholars consider it one of the biggest threats to world peace.

### Alexander J. Motyl

American historian Alexander J. Motyl said that Ruscism had the following features:

- Statism and hypernationalism
- A hypermasculine cult of the supreme leader
- General popular support for the regime and its leader
- An undemocratic political system, different from both traditional authoritarianism and totalitarianism

### Timothy Snyder

In a May 2022 article, American historian Timothy Snyder pointed out that:

### Francis Fukuyama

In July 2022, Japanese-American political scientist Francis Fukuyama said that Putin's regime in Russia looked like Nazi Germany because they both feature extreme nationalism, though Russia's one is "less institutionalised and revolves only around one man Vladimir Putin".

### Slavoj Žižek

In February 2023, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek said:

### Oleksandr Kostenko

As early as March 2014, professor Oleksandr Kostenko (Ukrainian: Костенко Олександр Миколайович) said:

### Volodymyr Zelenskyy

On April 23, 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the new concept _Ruscism_ will be in history books:

### Larysa Yakubova

In April 2022, Larysa Yakubova (Ukrainian: Якубова Лариса Дмитрівна) from the Institute of History of Ukraine wrote in her article _The Anatomy of Ruscism_:

### Andrey Piontkovsky

Political scientist Andrey Piontkovsky argued that Ruscism is similar to Nazism, with Putin's speeches reflecting similar ideas to those of Adolf Hitler.

### Grigory Yudin

Sociologist Grigory Yudin emphasized the importance of the "social atomization" and "depoliticisation" of Soviet society during the "Era of Stagnation" and later under Putin, followed by Russian society's mobilization to invade Ukraine in 2022. Yudin said that historical fascist regimes atomized the societies to mobilize them, adding that:

### Stanislav Belkovsky

Political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky argues that Ruscism is a form of fascism disguised as anti-fascism.

## Related pages

- Holodomor
- Double genocide theory
- Soviet persecution of Poles during World War II