One of the official lines of Russian propaganda claims that Moscow, unlike Western states, was not a colonial state. However, historians cite specific examples from its history that testify to the opposite.

Distance from the West in terms of its colonial past has become even more important for Russia as it seeks to expand its sphere of influence in Africa, which it sees as a market for Russian goods and services.

Wagner’s mercenary group, the Kremlin’s private army, was deployed in several African countries years before it was deployed alongside regular troops in the war in Ukraine launched by President Vladimir Putin on February 24.

An investigation published by the BBC last August revealed that Wagner’s mercenaries were involved in war crimes in Libya and were suspected of committing atrocities against civilians in other African states.

However, during his visit to Africa last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed the West for its colonial past on the continent, while saying that Western powers, not Moscow, were to blame for the global food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. .

But as Oleksandr Polyanichev, a historian of the Russian Empire who specializes in the Caucasus, points out, historians often view Russia as a colonial power that denies its past.

Our provinces, our colonies

Polyanitsev, who earned a doctorate in history from Sweden’s Södertern University, says Moscow’s rule over its “Asian” territories was a form of colonialism, and that in the past Russian officials were not shy about using the term.

It describes how in the 1820s, shortly after Russia expanded its empire into the South Caucasus, the bureaucracy in Moscow began to think of new territories, using a term borrowed from the West to describe a new kind of relationship between the center and periphery

“As the Minister of Finance of Russia Yehor Kankrin noted in 1827, “it is not for nothing that our Transcaucasian provinces can be called our colony, which should bring important advantages to the southern climatic zones of the state,” Polyanytsev quotes.

The idea promoted by Kankrin was to consider the South Caucasus, and especially Georgia, as Russia’s own quasi-tropical colony, which should supply “southern” goods to the metropolis and buy the products of Russian industry, the historian explains.

“The Kankrin colonial project left a huge imprint on the image of the Caucasus. The official Russian population census of the region in 1936 stated that “calling the South Caucasus a colony of Russia” is exactly how the region should be perceived and treated,” states Oleksandr Polyanichev, adding that the term “colony” has entered everyday language. Russian officials and the Russian press of that time.

South Caucasus (PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons)

How Russians treated their territories in the South Caucasus

The historian also says that the South Caucasus, typical of colonial possessions at the time, was not supposed to have its own industry, and that even the leader of the local administration, Ivan Paskevich, advised against building factories in Georgia, as this would “naturally weaken the mutual ties between Georgia and Russia.”

Paskevich insisted that “Georgia should be considered as a colony that could supply raw materials (silk, cotton, etc.) for our factories by borrowing Russian-made goods.”

However, Polyanichev notes that neither the local authorities in the Caucasus nor in Moscow have developed a specific plan of action in this regard, so the territories did not deliver “tropical” crops to Russia, nor did they supply them. to become a sales market for the Russian textile industry, which, one way or another, at that time also could not satisfy domestic demand.

But the term “colony” is rooted in Moscow’s relationship with its territories in the South Caucasus, and many newly arrived Russians in the territory shared this vision.

The Russian artist and general Grigory Gagarin, for example, cited the Caucasus as the source for Russia’s own “colonial exploits,” citing the example of Britain and its relationship with India as a role model.

The Russian press also promoted this point of view: “since the Caucasus is so dear to us, it should reimburse Russia for all expenses by buying its products and paying for them with the rich products of its land,” the newspaper of the time noted.

“Civilization Mission” of Russia in Georgia

The idea that Russia had a “civilizing mission” in the Caucasus was also present, another newspaper noted in 1868 that “a handful of Russians who came to Transcaucasia as the vanguard of civilization made this land an outpost for entering the depths of the East.”

An example of such a “mission” of civilization was the opening of the Imperial Library in Tbilisi, which its director Adolf Berze described as having the same role and importance in the “Mysterious Orient” as the British bookstore in Calcutta and the Dutch bookstore. in Batavia.

“In almost every newspaper, you can find the image of Georgians as “almost equally ignorant, uncivilized, lazy and rooted in their customs and superstitions”, while “Russia treats them like her children, sacrificing their labor, money and blood” . for their own sake,” states Polyanytsev.

The historian claims that imperial arrogance, orientalism and the pursuit of colonial interests were characteristic features of the Russian Empire in the South Caucasus and other countries.