Fortress Russia: Conspiracy Theories in the Post-Soviet World

244 Pages·2018·1.952 MB·English

by  Ilya Yablokov

Fortress Russia
To my parents, Olga and Aleksandr
Fortress Russia
Conspiracy Theories in Post-Soviet Russia
Ilya Yablokov
polity
Copyright © Ilya Yablokov 2018
The right of Ilya Yablokov to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in
accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2018 by Polity Press
Polity Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Yablokov, Ilya, author.
Title: Fortress Russia : conspiracy theories in post-Soviet Russia / Ilya
Yablokov.
Description: 1 | Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017055177 (print) | LCCN 2018009984 (ebook) | ISBN
9781509522699 (Epub) | ISBN 9781509522651 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509522668
(paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Russia (Federation)--Politics and government--1991- |
Conspiracy theories--Russia (Federation) | Political culture--Russia
(Federation) | Authoritarianism--Russia (Federation) |
Intellectuals--Political activity--Russia (Federation) | Russia
(Federation)--Foreign relations--Western countries. | Western
countries--Foreign relations--Russia (Federation) | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE
/ Sociology / General.
Classification: LCC DK510.763 (ebook) | LCC DK510.763 .Y33 2018 (print) | DDC
001.90947--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017055177
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2265-1 (hardback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2266-8 (paperback)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire
Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives PLC
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reprint or edition.
For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com
Contents
Acknowledgements page vii
Introduction 1
1 Building ‘Fortress Russia’ 14
2 The Spectres of Conspiracy Mythmaking 24
3 In Search of the ‘Agents of Perestroika’ 50
4 Sovereign Democracy and its Enemies 79
5 Battling against ‘Foreign Agents’ 112
6 Shadows of the Revolution 132
7 The War has Begun 162
Conclusion 185
References 196
Index 230
vii

acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
From the moment that the idea of this book was conceived to the
day the final version of the manuscript was sent to my editors, eleven
years have passed. Throughout this long and eventful period there
were many people who helped me design the arguments, change my
views, dig deeper and think more critically. Firstly, this project would
never have been realized without the advice of Viktor Muchnik, my
mentor and academic guru at Tomsk State University. His suggestion
of looking more closely at conspiracy theories, made over a cup of
coffee, turned out to be decisive and laid the groundwork for past and
future achievements. Rashid Kaplanov, Viktoria Mochalova, Semion
Goldin and all of the staff at ‘Sefer’, the Moscow centre for Jewish
studies, were the first to support me financially and helped me begin
collecting the resources for this project. Daniel Romanovsky and
Viktor Shnirel’man gave advice for my first academic steps. Oleg
Khazanov at Tomsk State University, Michael Miller at Central
European University, Michael Tuval at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and Rani Jaeger in Stockholm showed me how academic
research could actually be fun. Gevorg Avetikyan, Istvan Pal Adam,
Sanja Tepavcevic, David Karas, Anastas Vangeli, Vadim Nigmatov
and Yulia Likhacheva-Kuzmane were always there (mainly in
Budapest) to run by me many ideas that later appeared in the book.
The key person who made the production of this book possible
is Vera Tolz, who had faith in this project from the very first day
we met. Vera’s knowledge and academic achievements, as well as
her critical and thorough analysis of texts, have provided me with
academic inspiration and a scholarly role model. Her kindness and
willingness to help in every possible situation greatly contributed to
the successful completion of this book. She taught me how to be a
ix
acknowledgements
teacher and mentor, which I shall always remember. I am indebted to
Peter Knight for his extraordinary help in developing the conceptual
framework required to approach such a peculiar topic. As a student
in Tomsk, Peter’s book on American conspiracy culture was the first
that I read on the subject and indeed it was sheer luck and, of course,
an absolute privilege to have him as second supervisor of my project.
As a young scholar, I am also indebted to Stephen Hutchings for
providing invaluable academic opportunities. Stephen’s critical com-
ments, a deep understanding of Russian culture and readiness to
share knowledge helped me look at my project in a different way
and has laid the foundations for future research. Lynne Attwood
was extremely helpful during the work on my project in Manchester
and, at a later stage, was a key figure in turning my often unbearably
academic language into a (hopefully) fascinating read. Luke March’s
opinion on the PhD dissertation and the further evolution of the text
have been crucial in turning what was a postgraduate thesis into a
proper book.
A friendly and creative atmosphere at the School of Arts, Languages
and Cultures at Manchester also contributed to the outcome of
the book. Elizaveta Alentaeva, Elena Simms, Paul Richardson,
Svetlana Rapin, Kenzie Burchell, Alistair Dickins, Jan Gryta, Piotrek
Andrzejewski, Marina Henrikson and Ana Barazal Barreira were at
every moment very supportive of my work on the book, both in
the office space and at our house in Victoria Park. Of all people in
Manchester I am especially indebted to Alistair, who was very kind
in sharpening my skills as an entry-level writer. Manchester was
also the place where I met my co-author and close friend Elisabeth
Schimpfossl. Since then we have shared the happiness and sadness of
our first steps in the field while working in parallel on our first books
and numerous fascinating projects about Russian media. I am very
lucky to have a colleague and friend from whom I learn every day.
The final part of the book has been written in Leeds where my
colleagues/friends, James Harris, Natasha Bogoslavskaya, James
Wilson, Pavel Gudoshnikov and Robert Hornsby, have done every-
thing within their powers to ease the teaching workload, inspire me
with new ideas and challenge me at every turn.
The young generation of scholars in Russian studies has not only
provided me with feedback and useful criticism of my ideas, but also
has become a source of inspiration and support in all the possible cir-
cumstances that face the young academic in Britain. Arsenii Khitrov,
Olga Zeveleva, Tom Rowley, Nathan Brand, Vsevolod Samokhvalov,
Jon Roosenbeek – these words are dedicated to you.
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