The curious failure of Putin's offer to welcome his supporters to Russia

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, some people have been praising Russia as a role model.

Ten facts right-wing people who sympathize with Vladimir Putin seem to ignore
Putin's sham as a conservative referent: he made a pro-abortion law to the liking of the left-wing

During this time, many pro-Russian activists in the West have described Russia as a benchmark for moral values, as a kind of exception to the decadent drift of Western countries. Some even try to convince us that there is more freedom under Putin's dictatorship than in any democratic country, an approach that is based simultaneously on demonizing the West and whitewashing the mafia regime that exists in Russia.

To add a new twist to this campaign of manipulation, on August 19, Putin signed a decree to welcome Russian sympathizers from other countries. In a display of cynicism, the decree stated the intention was to "protect human rights and fundamental freedoms" (while Russia commits all kinds of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine) and "support people who have freely chosen a legal, spiritual and cultural connection with the Russian Federation."

The decree granted foreign citizens "the right to apply for a temporary residence permit without taking into account the quota approved by the Government of the Russian Federation and without presenting a document confirming knowledge of the Russian language, knowledge of Russian history and the fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation."

The text was addressed to those "who have expressed a desire to move to the Russian Federation for residence from states foreign to their citizenship or permanent residence because they do not accept the policies implemented by these states that impose destructive neoliberal ideological guidelines that contradict traditional Russian spiritual and moral values ​​provided for in the Fundamentals of State Policy, and the preservation of a strongly traditional Russia."

On the day the decree was presented, there was talk of a conservative family from the US applying for such a permit. Despite reports that the Kremlin was going to build a village for conservative foreigners, no further cases have been reported. There are plenty of pro-Russian propagandists in Western countries defending Russia as a country that others should emulate, but none of these Putin admirers have taken the step of moving to Russia, missing out on the opportunity.

The failure of this offer by Putin is not at all strange. We are talking about a dictatorship that imposes prison sentences for crimes of opinion such as comparing Hitler and Stalin or criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia is a country where Putin's opponents are suffering persecution, prison, torture and even murder. It is easy to live in a Western country where you know you will not go to prison for criticizing your government, but what madman would think of moving from such a country to a dictatorship that systematically violates human rights?

The fact that pro-Russian activists in the West ignore this offer is further proof that even they do not believe the nonsense with which they have been whitewashing Putin's dictatorship. It is the same situation for many Western communists who praise dictatorships such as Cuba and Venezuela, but none of them go to live in these countries, perhaps because they do not want to share the oppression and misery suffered by those trapped in these dictatorships.

---

Photo: Reuters.