Putin Is Absolutely Correct: Russophobia Is Real!

As Russia's czar, he expresses his hatred for his people in ways the masses are denied

There is something very special about having tea in a Russian household — especially in the wilds of Russia’s countryside. Tea is not just some leaves in a bag steeped in hot water; it is truly an institution in Russia. It’s a way of life and something I thoroughly enjoyed when in Russia and miss today while living ex-Russia.

Spread out on a table, anywhere between three and ten little dishes will be scattered in no particular order and filled with homemade jams, nuts, cookies, and sometimes even slices of sausage, cheese, and bread, a table prepared properly for tea groans under the weight of the offerings. The best teas are those that have been pulled together throughout the year at the dacha: dandelions, raspberry leaves, rose petals, and any odd assortment of herbs and spices that most of us in the U.S. would never give a second glance can become an afternoon wiled away sipping slowly on tea in Russia. 

These tea moments in Russia are ones that I truly cherished over the years I lived there. Occasionally, a tea sitting would be rounded out by a shot or two of homemade liqueur or vodka. In Ukraine, they drink tea similarly but with a little less gusto. I found that Russians tended to spend more time ensconced in the whole affair — it could drag on for hours, and regardless of how long, most present were as content as could, sitting, slurping, yawning, reading, and slowly crunching away.

The daily ceremony of tea-drinking is arguably one of the most Russian parts of the Russian nation. It is precisely these moments that Vladimir Putin, regardless of how much he claims to be defending Russia and fortifying the Russian family, actively destroys. Over the past two years, artists, writers, musicians, directors, journalists, and a broad cross-section of Russian society have a better bead on the essence of the Russian soul than Putin.  

But then again, to say that Putin doesn’t understand the Russian soul is wrong — way wrong! Putin is a master of the Russian soul but doesn’t let on. He tries through his off-the-cuff remarks and barely-controlled anger to exude a Russian-ness that captures the tea swillers by surprise, leaving them elated, if not relieved, to have such a “handsome leader” (many women in Russia find Putin to be handsome). 

Putin’s mastery of the Russian soul — and I say this not to suggest that it is some ultra-complicated and romantic element to be revered, as I find it somewhat empty and fantastically predictable — permits him to chip around the edges. He seldom drops his observations directly on the green but prefers to chip them into the nation’s consciousness as if he stumbled upon them during his unrelenting search for making Russia ever stronger. Putin then shamelessly manipulates all that used to be good about Russian culture, much of which no longer exists; once he lures Russians into his lair, he destroys them and everything about Russia’s culture.

The act of drinking tea is when families in Russia gather, sometimes peacefully, sometimes in the middle of an argument, and sometimes just silently. It is a moment when they are separated from the never-ending squeezing of the government’s vice with the accompanying whine of lies and hate. 

Putin understands that he can’t drink tea with all Russians, and so understands that in those moments, he is not the father of “all Russians.” Finding it difficult to fight those traditions and the tea culture of each family, he makes it so the families are broken. He sends some off to die on the front in a war no one wanted; others get labeled foreign agents; subversive gays; and, others are sodomized by the police for reading poems in public that question the war. By ensuring these ruptures in the family setting, Putin places himself squarely at the head of the table during teatime in all homes throughout Russia — reminds me of what Trump has done to American families. 

Nowhere in the world are Russians hated except maybe now in Ukraine. Russophobia is Putin’s central lie that justifies all kinds of evil. 

Vladimir Putin is the world’s most ardent Russophobe. Anyone supporting the death of Russian culture, supporting Putin is a Russophobe — shame!