Russia's Reorientation

• 22.09.2025, 10:40

Those who pretended to be Europeans will now pretend to be Asians.

When I try to explain that the main result of the Russian-Ukrainian war for Putin was a sharp turn from orientation towards Europe to orientation towards Asia - and that this turn is absolutely conscious, it is a victory of those forces that since the time of Peter the Great had an aversion to the European setting of Russia - for many people it sounds like a political exaggeration. As if I am trying to create a distorted image of Russia only because it is at war with Ukraine and threatens the very existence of our state and the Ukrainian people.

But in fact the war with Ukraine is only a part of this process. It is an instrument of a great political and national reorientation of Russia and Russians. To see this clearly, it was enough to watch the broadcast of the Intervision festival, which Putin addressed. This is not an alternative to Eurovision, but quite an Asian pop music festival, which was won by a singer from Vietnam. And there is nothing "bad" or "good" about it - just as there is nothing "bad" or "good" about Vietnam or Malaysia having their own cultural and civilizational tradition.

In Soviet times, things looked different. The Soviet variety, when appearing at international festivals, tried to look European, albeit provincial. International contests at that time covered mainly the Eastern European space and were European in nature. And Asian singers, even Soviet singers, looked exotic on such stages. People who remember this can compare how they perceived the Polish star Marila Rodowicz or, say, the Soviet singer from Kazakhstan Roza Rymbayeva.

So you may ask: what will happen to those Russians who considered themselves Europeans or at least tried to appear to be? The answer is simple: those who pretended to be Europeans will now pretend to be Asians - they are not used to it. And those who really thought they were Europeans will either leave or die out - regardless of their political views. Because this is the end of Peter the Great's empire and the beginning of something completely new. More precisely - something old: a return to the Moscow principality before the Pereyaslav era.

And when I say that the front line, which will continue to pass between the Ukrainian and Russian armies over the next few years, will simultaneously become the civilizational border of China, I am not exaggerating. I am simply stating a fact.

Vitaly Portnikov, Facebook