Vakhtang Kebuladze: Russia Builds its Identity on Obscure ‘Russian World’ as Alternative to Western Values

Russia is building its identity on such an obscure, universal, superterritorial value as the ‘Russian World’, which is expected to be an alternative to the values of the Western civilization.

Ukrainian philosopher Vakhtang Kebuladze stated this during the 11^th Kyiv Security Forum in Kyiv.

“We will not understand Russia if we say that Russia is currently building its identity on some kind of ethnic, conservative myths. Russia is unlikely to handle this. Russia is a myth. Russia is a state that unites a very large number of different ethnic groups, cultures, religions and even civilizations. That is why the rhetoric there is much more complicated. And it is being built to a certain extent, however strange it could be, on certain values – the values that are alternative to the western civilization,” he said.

According to V.Kebuladze, Russia is building a kind of ‘Russian World’ and nobody knows what it is: “They say that in the West there is the society of continuous consumption, a society based on economic interests (and here Marxism is added, saying that everything is due to economic interests). Instead, they are building the ‘Russian World’ – nobody knows what that is, but it is some kind of universal global super-territorial value”. Therefore, it is unlikely that the rhetoric of the Kremlin propagandists or Putin is constructed on appeal to a certain ethnic core, the philosopher believes.

In addition, V.Kebuladze says that while evaluating the processes in Ukraine, Europe, and the world as a whole, it is not necessary to regard them as a contradiction of the left and right ideologies, which was traditional for the 20^th century, but as a contradiction between radicals and liberals.

“In my opinion, this is a false contradiction. It did not always work, to put it mildly, in the 20th century. After all, the Second World War was initiated both by the German Nazis who were radically right-wing and by the Russian Communists, who by definition were radically left-wing... I would suggest a somewhat different contradiction, although I am not certain that it is also going to work well – I mean the contradiction between radicals and liberals – not liberals and conservatives, which was voiced out today, but namely between the liberal values and liberal ideas, on one hand, and radical views and radical ideas, on the other hand. It at least allows one to understand some of the events that occur, in particular, in Ukraine and in Europe,” the philosopher noted.

For reference:

The annual international event Kyiv Security Forum was launched by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine in 2007 as a platform for high-level discussions on the current issues in Europe and the Black Sea region. The Forum aims at increasing security cooperation between the EU and the Black Sea region, raising awareness about regional developments among key regional players, promoting the role of independent and non-governmental actors in setting the security agenda in Europe.

The event is being held with the support of NATO Information and Documentation Center in Ukraine, the German Marshall Fund, The Victor Pinchuk Foundation, The Royal Institute of International Relations, Chatham House (UK), and The Regional Representative Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine.