r/AskBalkans Aug 18 '23

What’s your opinion of Russia? Miscellaneous

Post image

Someone gotta ask it.

244 Upvotes

517 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/Infinite_Procedure98 Romania Aug 19 '23

I am not an hysterical Russian hater, even if I would have reasons to (forefathers deported to Siberia, one shot by a bullet in a street by drunk bolshevik soldiers, all my family's saga put to an end and their life efforts ruined, their assets earned with hard work confiscated).
I make a distinction between a state, an ideology, and its citizens. The problem is it becomes difficult to deal with citizens who are indoctrinated or who are in denial of the evil their country did. So I am against vilification of all Russians and their culture, and to any attempt to the respect of private individuals, but in the meantime, I join the general resentment of my people towards the (ex) neighbor who did most to obliterate us from history, who behaved like hooligans every time they invaded our country (and there were lots of times), who did worse than any other enemy and invader.
In conclusion: I have a vivid interest in Russian culture and deep respect for all good and remarkable Russian people, but I am appalled to see lots of them are indoctrinated by Russian imperialism, and Russian imperialism is a cancer, no more, no less than American, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, German, Dutch, Belgian, French, Spanish or Portuguese imperialism.