A Russian immigrant approached me on the metro in Berlin the other day when he heard me speaking Belarusian. He didn’t ask for directions, but rather about my attitude towards Russia.
When I asked him if he thinks Belarusians are afraid to be the next nation on Putin’s list of places to ‘protect’, he replied: “Putins come and go; This is about the Russian World, which Belarusians are part of.”
The “Russian World” is a term which the Kremlin is successfully promoting to describe the roughly 300 million people in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and beyond, who speak Russian, who are interested in Russian culture, and who share a common understanding of the historic development of the region as well as of its conjoint (sic!) future.
In Russian, the concept is called Russky Mir, which, ironically, also means “Russian Peace.”
This Russky Mir is currently expanding and shrinking at the same time, and so, the story goes, it needs to be protected.
Soon after the EU and US introduced sanctions against Russia, President Putin joined them with a one-year ban on imports of meat, fish, dairy products, fruit, and vegetables from the EU, the US, Canada, Australia, and Norway.
This is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Or, as they say in Russian, freezing your ears to spite your granny.
Russian state TV is gushing with delight that, finally, only good quality, organic Russian products will find their way to Russian stomachs. And certain EU countries suffer economic losses. Which makes even more happy those who love having Crimea back.
But, let’s face it, a revival of local agriculture could be difficult in a country, Russia, where diesel fuel used by farming equipment is more expensive than petrol; where import of seeds has continuously grown, reaching in some categories as much as 100 percent; where the food industry heavily depends on imported ingredients; and where any potential subsidies are likely to be eaten by the moth-plague of corruption.
After cutting off its nose, or freezing its ears, Russia is likely to see food price hikes and shortages of staple foodstuffs. And this in a situation where 30 percent of the population – according to the Russian National Service for Statistics – already suffers from undernourishment.
To borrow a phrase from Mr. Orwell, the “more equal” Russian citizens will continue to eat foie gras, mussels, and prosciutto. Their kids will bring it back when they visit home from their European and American universities.
More food will also be imported from two members of a Russian customs union, Belarus and Kazakhstan which declined to follow Putin’s self-mutilation/food embargo. And are ready to earn with re-imports.
If Putin’s plan is to build some kind of new Berlin Wall around his Russky Mir and its economies, he ought to have the money and modern infrastructure to face the consequences.
But he doesn’t.
It’s not so easy to brainwash people with empty stomachs into thinking they are happy. It’s not so easy to cut off their ears and noses, in a globalised planet where each man and woman aspires to peace and prosperity.
The mythology of the Russky Mir will last until the majority realise that their face is not good enough without the nose. Even if it is Russian.
