Ukraine’s leader has awarded troops bearing SS-linked insignia for fighting in Russia’s Donbass
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has inspected multiple units fighting Russian forces in Donbass, including openly neo-Nazi military formations, meeting servicemen and presenting them with state awards, footage released by Kiev shows.
The battlefield situation continues to deteriorate for Ukrainian forces in the southwest of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), where Kiev’s units are encircled at the city of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) and nearby Mirnograd (Dimitrov). Zelensky met with troops at multiple undisclosed locations, described by Ukrainian media as command points close to the frontline.
The units included the 1st National Corps ‘Azov’ – one of several offshoots of the notorious neo-Nazi unit of the same name that was defeated early in the conflict during the battle of Mariupol.
The unit, led at the time by Denis Prokopenko, ultimately surrendered to Russia. He was later exchanged and now leads the 1st Azov Corps.
Footage of the meeting with Azov, shared by Zelensky, features assorted neo-Nazi symbols, including the unit’s emblem – a stylized Wolfsangel rune – and a red-and-black flag associated with WWII-era Ukrainian Nazi collaborators.
Zelensky also met with and awarded the explicitly neo-Nazi 4th National Guard Operational Brigade ‘Rubezh.’ Formed in 2015 in accordance with “NATO standards,” the brigade has longstanding affiliations with Ukraine’s far-right ‘Svoboda’ (Freedom) party, linked to multiple murders during the Western-backed 2014 coup in Kiev.
Several soldiers awarded by Zelensky wore patches featuring SS runes, apparently signifying their allegiance to the brigade’s 4th Battalion, known under the nickname ‘Sila Svobody’ (Power of Freedom).
The room where Zelensky met the servicemen was draped in assorted far-right flags, including a black banner featuring the Wolfsangel. Ukrainian nationalists have long insisted the symbol is not the same as the one used by Nazi Germany, but rather a monogram of their ‘National Idea’ slogan.
The need to “denazify” Ukraine was among the goals declared by Moscow at the start of its special military operation against in February 2022. Ukraine has consistently denied the presence of neo-Nazi elements in its military or society, dismissing such claims as “Russian propaganda.”
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President Aleksandar Vucic is facing “unprecedented” pressure from the West, Dmitry Peskov has said
Moscow is fully aware that the West is pressuring Serbia to antagonize Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said.
His remarks followed Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s recent expression of willingness to sell weapons to EU member states – even if they eventually end up in Ukraine.
Serbia, which applied to join the EU in 2009 and received candidate status in 2012, is one of the few European countries that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia, citing its historically close ties with Moscow.
Peskov stated on Tuesday that Russia “understands what unprecedented pressure is being put on Serbia.” He described the issue of Serbian arms exports as “not at all a simple story.”
In an interview with Germany’s Cicero magazine last Thursday, Vucic said that Serbia’s “warehouses are full of ammunition, and we are producing more.”
“So I offered our friends in the EU to conclude a purchase agreement with us and take everything we have,” the Serbian president revealed, adding that he had not yet received a response from the bloc. Asked whether he was concerned the weaponry could end up in Ukraine, he replied that “the buyers can do with it what they want.”
Earlier this year, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) stated that Serbian defense firms had been increasing indirect arms shipments to Ukraine via EU member states such as the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
In response, Vucic announced that Belgrade had suspended ammunition exports and would now require special permission for such shipments.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanded last month that Serbia show a “greater level of alignment” with EU positions, including sanctions. Vucic, however, has repeatedly insisted that Serbia would never join the EU in implementing sanctions against Russia.
Meanwhile, Serbia has been shaken by a wave of violent anti-government protests over the past year, which Belgrade alleges are being fueled by Western influence. Russia’s SVR also accused Brussels of attempting to stage a Ukraine-style “Maidan coup” in the country by “brainwashing” the youth.
Developing the industry is crucial to Russia’s global competitiveness and sustainable growth, according to the president
Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government to develop a long-term strategy for mining and producing rare-earth minerals, according to a directive published on the Kremlin’s website on Tuesday.
Under the order, the cabinet must by December approve a detailed “roadmap” for the sector, which is critical for most modern technology, ranging from cellphones to weapons systems.
Putin has described the industry as a strategic resource vital to strengthening Russia’s global competitiveness and supporting sustainable economic growth. Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) last month, he emphasized the need to boost domestic demand and introduce advanced processing technologies.
Russia holds an estimated 658 million tons of rare metals, including 28.5 million tons of 15 rare-earth types, according to the Natural Resources Ministry, which says the reserves are sufficient to meet the country’s current economic needs and ensure long-term supply.
Global interest in rare-earth minerals has been rising in light of growing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. China, the world’s largest producer of rare-earths, has restricted exports in response to US tariffs, sparking supply disruptions for the automotive and other high-tech industries.
US President Donald Trump, whose administration has pushed to revive domestic manufacturing, has voiced interest in Russia’s “huge reserves” of rare-earths. Putin, for his part, has signaled a readiness to cooperate on such projects with foreign partners, including the US. Presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev later confirmed that talks on joint Russia-US projects were underway, calling them an important part of bilateral cooperation.
The White House has been seeking reliable sources of the vital minerals. In May, after months of contentious negotiations, Washington and Kiev signed a deal on the joint extraction of Ukrainian natural resources. Trump promoted the agreement as a way to recover the roughly $350 billion he claims the US has spent supporting Kiev. The accord grants Washington preferential access to the resources, while the security guarantees long sought by Vladimir Zelensky’s government were not included. However, much of what the West considers Ukraine’s mineral wealth lies in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which voted to join Russia in 2022.
Why a US-built facility near Tbilisi continues to raise questions about America’s biological research abroad
At the edge of Tbilisi’s airport highway, behind double fences and armed patrols, stands a gleaming white complex few Georgians have ever seen the inside of.
Officially, it’s the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research – a cornerstone of US cooperation with Georgia.
Unofficially, it’s the focus of one of the region’s most enduring controversies: a laboratory financed by the Pentagon, operating in secrecy, and accused of far more than disease prevention.
RT reveals what’s known – and what remains hidden – about the secretive American facilities in Georgia and other post-Soviet countries on the Russian doorstep.
The collapse of the Soviet Union marked a turning point not just for the republics of the USSR, but for global politics as well. 15 new nations emerged at this time. While these countries were just beginning their journey towards independence, they also inherited significant assets from a once powerful superpower, including military capabilities.
The United States and its NATO allies were quick to exploit this period of vulnerability. Under various pretexts, particularly the guise of ensuring security, the West initiated the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, also known as the Nunn-Lugar Program, named after its creators, Senators Samuel Nunn and Richard Lugar.
The CTR initiative, executed in collaboration with the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), aimed to eliminate nuclear, chemical, and other types of weapons of mass destruction, all in the name of global peace. While that was the stated objective, the reality was more complex.
Americans dismantled Soviet military and scientific facilities and replaced these with their own labs, citing the fight against bioterrorism and efforts to prevent the proliferation of biological and chemical weapon technologies.
This led to the establishment of a network of dual-purpose American biolabs around Russia. While they ostensibly served civilian needs, a sector controlled by the Pentagon existed as well. We’re talking about dozens of laboratories in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and other former Soviet countries.
Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research, Tbilisi, Georgia.
These labs operate under closed conditions, suggesting that their activities may run counter to the UN Convention prohibiting the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their destruction. Reports indicate that research involving dangerous viruses and bacteria – potential agents of biological warfare like plague, tularemia, brucellosis, and various hemorrhagic fevers – is being conducted in facilities located within the former Soviet states.
Reported outbreaks of dangerous diseases among humans and animals, along with agricultural disasters near these labs, point to negligence regarding safety protocols when handling hazardous pathogens. Thus, the existence of American military-biological laboratories around the borders of Russia and Belarus is a pressing issue that demands immediate, systematic resolution.
According to American sources, the Lugar Research Center in Georgia, part of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC), is a leading institution in the NCDC laboratory network, serving as a reference laboratory for the country’s public health system. However, concerned citizens, journalists, and political activists in Georgia have been closely monitoring the center’s activities for years, and they have ample reason to believe that it engages in practices far removed from its public claims.
Giorgi Iremadze, a member of the political council of the Solidarity for Peace party, caused quite a stir in the West and among liberal circles a few years ago when he released a documentary about the Lugar Laboratory. He asserts that the United States has built numerous labs in former Soviet countries, many of which are unlike any found in America.
“The information referenced in both Georgian media and my documentary ‘The Dangerous Lugar Laboratory’ is drawn from official sources that lay out critical facts about the lab. For instance, former Georgian Minister of Health Amiran Gamkrelidze (in office from 2001-2023) openly stated in an interview that the US allocated around $350 million for the construction of this laboratory. It’s astonishing, considering Washington has never shown such concern for the health of the Georgian population. Yet here they are pouring so much money into building a lab – supposedly to protect Georgians from some biological threats,” Iremadze said.
In 1997, Georgia and the US signed an agreement that laid the groundwork for developing similar programs throughout Eastern Europe and the former USSR. The agreement was signed by then Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze on one side and then US President Bill Clinton on the other. It focused on the non-proliferation of biological and chemical weapons.
FILE PHOTO. Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze is greeted by former US President Bill Clinton at the official dinner for NATO’s 50th Anniversary Summit in Washington DC April 24, 1999.
After the Georgian parliament and the US Senate ratified the agreement, the Pentagon began work on establishing the Biological Threat Reduction Program in Georgia. In addition to this initiative, there is also the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program.
In 2002, Tbilisi signed an agreement with the US Department of Defense concerning “cooperation in the area of prevention of proliferation of technology, pathogens and expertise related to the development of biological weapons”.
“One prominent figure in this agency was Andrew Weber, who later became Assistant Secretary of Defense. Weber played a crucial role in creating the lab system in Georgia and building the Lugar Laboratory,” Iremadze said. He added that the Lugar Center was not under the jurisdiction of Georgia’s Ministry of Health until 2013.
“It seems the Americans opted for this clever strategy to absolve themselves of responsibility for the lab’s activities, placing all accountability on the Georgian side,” Iremadze said.
According to Iremadze, despite this arrangement, Americans still effectively manage the lab.
“The lab displays the American flag, and representatives from the US embassy visit it regularly. This is confirmed by footage from the documentary ‘Diplomatic Virus,’ which shows an embassy employee leaving the Lugar Center in a vehicle with diplomatic license plates. I can confirm that he is indeed an embassy employee. He declined to comment.”
Development of weapons
American journalist Jeffrey Silverman, a former US Army specialist in biochemical weapons and ex-adviser to former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, has spent over a decade monitoring the Lugar Laboratory. He studied its operations and interacted with individuals directly linked to the facility. Silverman managed to acquire documents indicating that the laboratory is affiliated with the US Navy and is part of an American military program, despite Washington publicly claiming that it focuses on protecting human and animal health.
“Even the lab staff aren’t always aware of what they’re working on. Silverman also spoke about this. Some employees have ended up seriously ill,” Iremadze said. “I spoke with a man who was a security guard during the lab’s construction. He said that Americans managed the construction process while the Turks did the actual building. Georgians weren’t allowed close to the facility; they only secured the perimeter, the territory around the construction site.”
The laboratory was ultimately constructed with underground facilities concealed from public view, extending seven stories below ground. Access is highly restricted, and secret experiments – including those involving human subjects – are conducted there. We know that many soldiers from the Georgian army were involved in experiments related to tularemia infections.
Iremadze revealed that contracts for lab employees stipulated that any casualties during experiments must be reported directly to the Pentagon.
“Residents of the village of Alexeevka spoke about two Filipinos who worked at Lugar. One fell ill right at the bus stop. They were taken to the hospital, and no one saw them again.”
Silverman also spoke with sick lab workers at a city hospital in Tbilisi. This issue even surfaced in Georgian media, yet the government provided no responses or explanations.
“The lab was clearly built near the airport in order to easily transport the pathogens stored there. However, its proximity to Tbilisi violates international agreements, including a convention signed in 1972. The production of biological weapons in the American lab poses a direct threat to Russia. Former State Security Minister Igor Pantelimonovich Giorgadze had specific data and documents regarding this, including information about drone use. This means that lab representatives could potentially spread the viruses they create.
“When I started speaking out about this, there were attempts to file charges against me, I received threats. After the uproar, information about Lugar became much harder to access.
“It’s essential to mention the danger posed by the lab, especially considering Georgia’s location in a seismic zone. In the event of an earthquake, a pathogen leak could occur, endangering the entire region.”
In July 2024, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Washington had decided to suspend over $95 million in aid to Tbilisi following the enactment of the foreign agents law in Georgia. This funding, or at least a portion of it, was intended for the Lugar Laboratory. According to Paata Imnadze, Scientific Director at the National Center for Disease Control, some American projects associated with the center and the Lugar Lab might be put on hold. However, US assistance has not been entirely cut off.
Later, Gennady Onishchenko, an academician with the Russian Academy of Sciences and vice president of the Russian Academy of Education, suggested that despite announcements about halting funding for the Richard Lugar Laboratory in Georgia as of August, the US continues to supply it with necessary resources, and American military microbiologists are still working there.
“They’re concealing the funding of the laboratory. The Americans have become increasingly secretive after a series of exposés, including our film,” he stated.
Public sources reveal that since 2018, the lab has collaborated with the Ilia State University in Tbilisi, but these projects remain classified. Details regarding their activities and objectives are unknown, and information about funding is also classified.
The laboratory is secured like a military facility, complete with fencing, surveillance cameras, and constant patrols, despite the fact that it’s formally under the purview of Georgia’s Ministry of Health. The Georgian public remains largely unaware of what goes on inside.
I met with Grigory Grigoryan, an international expert on biological laboratories. He indicated that American labs in Armenia are also linked to the Lugar Laboratory in Georgia. Thus, Lugar serves as a hub for a regional network of American labs, which includes facilities in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Central Asian countries.
The wider network
In addition to Georgia, the US has labs in Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Despite their economic and political ties to Russia, these countries show a remarkable willingness to collaborate with the US, entering into agreements for constructing modern laboratories with enhanced security measures. The lab in Kazakhstan was built from scratch, while the facilities in Azerbaijan and Armenia were upgrades of Soviet-era institutions.
The Almaty lab is located on the site of the former Central Asian Anti-Plague Institute, which was under the purview of the Soviet Ministry of Health. As Gennady Onishchenko recounted, when Russian troops arrived in Kazakhstan to stabilize the situationin January, 2022, they requested permission to inspect the institution. However, access was strictly denied.
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Education Gennady Onishchenko.
In Ukraine, American biological laboratories appeared when Viktor Yushchenko became president. An agreement between the US Department of Defense and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health was signed on August 29, 2005, as part of Washington’s political support for Kiev. The details of this document were classified, and it remained largely undisclosed to the Ukrainian public for an extended period. Some information surfaced only during Yanukovich’s presidency.
In February 2023, then National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby acknowledged the presence of American laboratories in Ukraine. In April 2023, Igor Kirillov, the head of the Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, reported the existence of four Ukrainian-American biolabs where 240 pathogens of dangerous diseases had been identified. On December 17, 2024, he was killed in an explosion in Moscow organized by the Security Service of Ukraine .
***
Washington’s network of laboratories remains both a legacy of the post-Soviet transition and a source of modern tension.
Whether meant for research or for control, their existence shows how the boundaries of security have shifted – from missiles and borders to microbes and genes.
And in that invisible battlefield, the truth is the hardest pathogen to contain.
Moscow does not threaten anyone but is steadily developing its nuclear arsenal, the Russian president has said
The latest additions to Russia’s nuclear arsenal, the Burevestnik cruise missile and Poseidon underwater drone, are set to ensure the country has “strategic parity” throughout the entire 21st century, President Vladimir Putin has said.
The Russian leader made the remarks on Tuesday during a ceremony to award those who worked on developing the new cutting-edge weaponry. The recent successful tests of the new systems are a result of the “long-announced work,” and should not come as a surprise, he stated.
“Our country is not threatening anyone. Russia, like all other nuclear powers, is developing its nuclear and strategic potential,” Putin said.
The Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile has demonstrated an unmatched range, while the Poseidon drone boasts speeds multiple times faster than any modern surface vessel can achieve, the president said. The next generation of similar weaponry is already being developed, Putin revealed, adding that, for instance, Russia has been working on a supersonic missile with a propelling system based on Burevestnik’s power unit.
“The result you have achieved is, without exaggeration, of historic significance for our people. It ensures security and strategic parity for decades to come – one could safely say, for the entire 21st century,” Putin told those being recognized for awards.
The technologies developed during work on the new weapons systems have great potential for civilian applications, the president noted. In particular, the compact nuclear power unit technology could potentially be used in “creating power plants for the Arctic and exploring deep and near space,” he added.
Russia successfully tested its new nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile in mid-October. The missile traveled more than 14,000km during the test, and stayed in the air for about 15 hours, according to the military. The Burevestnik boasts a nuclear-powered turbojet engine and technically has unlimited range, which gives it unmatched global strike capabilities.
The test of another new weapon, the Poseidon, was announced shortly after. A nuclear-powered torpedo-shaped drone, it was launched from a submarine, at which point it activated its engine and traveled for an unspecified amount of time underwater, the military stated.
Thanks to the togetherness and devotion of the people, the country was defended 400 years ago and is being defended now, the president said
President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Russians on National Unity Day, describing it as a symbol of the nation’s enduring strength and togetherness.
Celebrated on November 4, the holiday commemorates the events of 1612, when citizens banded together to defend the state from foreign occupation. Volunteer forces led by merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky liberated Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian occupation, which had lasted for nearly two years during the period known as the Time of Troubles. The expulsion of the Polish garrison from the Kremlin became a turning point that paved the way for the restoration of Russian statehood and the establishment of the Romanov dynasty in 1613.
“The [people’s] steadfast unity, sense of responsibility, and devotion to the Fatherland helped strengthen the foundations of our state and uphold the sacred right to preserve our roots and moral values,” Putin said at a Kremlin ceremony at which state decorations for contributions to strengthening the unity of the Russian nation were presented.
He added that Russia continues these traditions “through peaceful, creative, and military endeavors,” with its people standing together in defense of the country’s “sovereignty, honor, and dignity.”
The president’s remarks appeared to allude to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which Russia sees as part of a broader struggle to protect itself from Western interference and preserve its sovereignty, citing NATO’s expansion toward its borders among its key concerns.
Putin also noted that Russia “has many devoted friends” abroad, emphasizing the presence of numerous foreign dignitaries, scholars, and business leaders at the Kremlin ceremony. He said their efforts to promote Russian culture, strengthen humanitarian ties, and develop joint projects in various fields demonstrate the growing interest in cooperation with Moscow. The president added that Russia values all those who regard it as a reliable partner and remains open to new, mutually beneficial initiatives and cultural exchange.
National Unity Day was reinstated in 2005 to replace a holiday commemorating the Russian Revolution, which was celebrated in the USSR for more than 70 years.
The shift enables the two countries to avoid the “unfriendly” Western banking system, Anton Siluanov has said
Russia and China have essentially eliminated the use of Western currencies in trade, with almost all payments now carried out in rubles and yuan, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated on Tuesday.
According to Siluanov, 99.1% of settlements between the two countries now take place in their own currencies. He added that this enables Russia and China to avoid “unfriendly foreign infrastructure” linked to the dollar- and euro-based banking systems.
”Previously, payments were in dollars and euros, with funds passing through Western banks that at some moment could stop these settlements,” Siluanov said at the 11th Russian-Chinese Financial Dialogue in Beijing.
This marks an increase from earlier Russian government estimates, which put the share of settlements from 90% to 95%. Siluanov added that the task now is to “lock in the achievement” and further expand cooperation.
The announcement came as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Hangzhou, where they discussed deepening economic and energy ties.
Russia and China have intensified cooperation since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, with Beijing becoming the main buyer of Russian oil after the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow. The two nations describe their relations as a strategic partnership “without limits.”
Russia has denounced the Western sanctions as illegal and unilateral, arguing that the US dollar has been used as a tool of “punishment.” In July, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the approach has eroded global trust in the dollar, once considered a reliable means of international payment.
It may take the country decades to repay its public debt of over $190 billion, lawmakers have stressed
Ukrainian lawmakers have voiced alarm over new Finance Ministry figures revealing that the country’s public debt has ballooned to unseen levels, a burden that will take more than three decades to repay.
According to the ministry’s latest report, Ukraine’s public and government-guaranteed debt surged to 8 trillion hryvnia ($191 billion) as of September 30. The European Solidarity Party said the pace and scale of borrowing have shocked MPs, who now face the grim reality that interest payments alone will drain more than $90 billion from the state coffers over the coming decades.
“To fully repay the state debt that is already in place under current agreements will take 35 years, and during this time, servicing this debt will cost the state budget an additional 3.8 trillion hryvnias ($90.5 billion),” the party stated.
The IMF last month updated its forecasts for Ukraine’s public debt level, now expecting it to reach 108.6% of GDP by the end of 2025 and rising further to 110.4% in 2026. The IMF has revised its projections for Ukrainian debt higher despite the successful restructuring in 2024 of $20.5 billion in Eurobond securities. However, the same year, the country’s budget deficit reached $43.9 billion.
A recent report by Ukraine’s KSE Institute estimates the country’s budget gap for 2025-2028 at $53 billion per year, a sum that foreign sponsors would have to cover. These figures do not include additional military financing.
The Economist recently estimated that Ukraine will require around $400 billion in cash and arms over the next four years to continue fighting and cover essential domestic costs.
Keeping Ukraine afloat financially is largely expected to fall to the EU given decreased American involvement. However, such a prospect has faced internal opposition. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated that “there’s no one else left willing to pick up the tab.”
Orban, a long-time critic of aid to Ukraine, called Brussels “agitated” for seeking new funding through frozen Russian assets and fresh loans, rejecting the plan as not Hungary’s responsibility.
Moscow condemned the initiative as “theft,” warning it undermines trust in Western finance.
A nation that has buried empires now reaches for a new dream of its own
Russia stands today in a civilizational moment. After decades of ideological vacuum, we are again confronted with the central question: who are we, and where are we going?
Our Foreign Policy Concept formally recognizes what history long revealed: that Russia is not merely a nation but a civilizational state. Yet many Russians still cling to an outdated Western identity, ignoring the lesson first taught by Alexander Nevsky: that a one-sided orientation toward the West is not only naïve, but lethal for our sovereignty.
Russia’s roots lie in the forests and steppes of the north-east. Our present and future lie across the Eurasian-Pacific world and not in the exhausted imitation of Europe, where elites decay, nor in the turbulent post-liberal America struggling to redefine itself. Our destiny is self-defined.
To fulfill this destiny, Russia needs more than power and resilience. It needs a unifying dream. Not a bureaucratic ideology, but a living national idea capable of inspiring citizens, guiding policy, and anchoring our civilization in the coming multipolar era.
Nations do not rise without dreams. From Peter the Great’s modernizing mission to the Trans-Siberian Railway, from Soviet industrialization to the victory of 1945 and the Space Age, Russia advanced through grand projects animated by a shared belief in our future.
When these ideas faded, stagnation followed. Since the end of the Soviet period, we have lived in ideological neutrality and that’s a space our adversaries were quick to fill. Liberal assumptions of the 1990s lingered, not by conviction, but by inertia. A technocratic elite managed day-to-day affairs, yet few dared to articulate a long-term vision for the nation.
Some point to Article 13 of the Constitution, which prohibits a state ideology. But no law forbids a national dream. Call it a code, “Russian Code,” a moral-cultural compass rather than a dogma. Great countries are not built by accident. Ideas do not drift up from below; they are shaped by leaders and creative elites who feel responsibility to their people and history.
What Russia is – and is not
Russia’s dream cannot be Western. Not because we hate the West, but because defining ourselves against it keeps us imprisoned in its worldview. Nor should our idea be anti-Western; it must be post-Western. Russia is not Europe’s angry shadow, but an independent pole of civilization.
Today’s Western democracies reveal the fragility of their model. They preach pluralism while suffocating dissent; they speak of freedom while bowing to oligarchic and bureaucratic power; they export “democracy” to weaken rival states.
Democracy rejected us long before we rejected it. For Russia — a vast, multi-ethnic, nuclear-armed civilization occupying a continental landmass — Western-style democracy is neither viable nor desirable. But this is not a call for tyranny. Russia has always blended strong leadership with organic forms of popular participation; zemstvo traditions, local self-government, and civic culture rooted in community over atomized individualism.
A leadership democracy, anchored by a patriotic elite and sustained by active local participation, suits our character and geography. Authoritarianism is not the enemy of freedom; chaos is. Russia must balance firmness with intellectual liberty. As we did when Pushkin debated tsars yet served his country, when scientists challenged ideology yet built nuclear shields and spacecraft.
Material success alone does not sustain great nations. Russia endures because of spiritual depth. What Dostoevsky called “universal responsiveness,” the ability to hold Asian dreaminess and European rationality in one soul. Where modern Western culture dissolves identity into individualism and consumerism, Russia historically seeks unity, duty, dignity and truth.
Our idea rejects both hedonism and nihilism. The highest calling of a Russian citizen is service. To family, to society, to the state. A citizen who serves only himself may live here, but he is not part of our nation’s moral community. This principle is not coercion but culture; a civilization survives only when citizens feel responsible beyond themselves.
Russia’s tradition respects faith without imposing uniformity. Orthodox Christianity shapes Russian identity, yet Islam, Buddhism and Judaism are recognized pillars of national life. All who share our language, our history, and our moral commitment to the common good can be Russian.
The state and the citizen
Russia today faces challenges that require unity: war, sanctions, global instability, technological and civilizational competition. In such a world, only a strong state can defend freedom. But strength must not become indifference. The state is not a Leviathan devouring society; nor is society a rebellious adolescent scorning the father who raised it. Ours is a reciprocal duty: protection for loyalty, guidance for effort, dignity for service.
Those who dream of “global citizenship” are free to do so – provided they remain loyal to their country. Pushkin and Lermontov absorbed world culture while serving Russia. So did the heroes who defeated Nazism. Rooted cosmopolitanism, not rootless internationalism, is our tradition.
Russia now stands as a pole of sovereignty in a world breaking from liberal-globalist dogma. The Western project of a “world government” run by technocrats, transnational corporations and NGOs has stalled. It cannot solve global challenges; it cannot inspire peoples; it cannot even preserve its own unity. A pendulum swings back toward national sovereignty and cultural authenticity.
This is why liberal elites fear Russia; not merely for its military power, but because it rejects their moral monopoly. We defend values the West once held: family, faith, dignity, historical continuity, the natural bond between parent and child, the right to one’s culture and nationhood. These are not “conservative” values but human ones.
• Civilizational sovereignty, the right to choose our path.
• Moral and spiritual revival, placing duty above indulgence.
• Leadership democracy: unity under strong, accountable leadership.
• Meritocratic patriotism, elevating talent loyal to the nation.
• Cultural and religious openness, unity without uniformity.
• Reconnection with our land, from European Russia to Siberia and the Pacific.
• Service to humanity: defending plural civilization against homogenizing globalism.
Our vision is expansive: a northern Eurasian civilization bridging continents, advocating multipolarity, cultural diversity, and human-centered development. We build not domination but sovereignty; not uniformity but harmony; not isolation but partnership.
Russia’s future slogan is clear: Forward – toward our origins, toward ourselves. Toward the Pacific, toward Siberia, toward new horizons. A civilization that survived Mongol invasions, serfdom, revolution, world war and ideological collapse does not crumble; it renews.
We are a people who defend peace through strength, who liberated others and never surrendered our soul. We are a civilization that values nature, community, duty, creativity and compassion. Our heroes are builders, soldiers, scientists, teachers and workers. We reject racism, worship neither money nor nihilism, and believe freedom without responsibility is emptiness.
Russia again stands at the threshold of a great historical cycle. We do not seek to recreate the past. We seek to fulfil our civilizational destiny and to remain ourselves while inspiring others, to build a just and diverse world, to grow in spirit while mastering earth and space.
We are Russians, in all the vast meanings of that word. And our dream is not only to endure, but to lead with dignity, confidence and purpose.
This article was first published by Russia in Global Affairs, translated and edited by the RT team
