Timofey Sergeytsev’s RIA Novosti article from April 10, 2021, casts light on his more recent April 3, 2022, article. I’d been very curious about something Sergeytsev had written in his more recent piece:

“However, all of the above does not make Ukrainian Nazism a ‘light version’ of German Nazism during the first half of the 20th century. On the contrary, since Ukrainian Nazism is free from such ‘genre’ (essentially political technology) frameworks and restrictions, it freely unfolds as the fundamental basis of any Nazism – as European and, in its most developed form, American racism.”

“Nazism . . . in its most developed form, American racism.”

Really?! Fascinating! Now, that is some serious linguistic malfeasance, right there!

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Context

OK, in his April 10, 2021 piece, Sergeytsev writes:

“Ukraine, the existence of which is still permissible, must unequivocally be neutral and federal (confederal), must (will be forced) to abandon both internal and external Russophobia.”

“Will be forced.” That sounds pretty serious. Could one “force” David Duke to not be a bigoted White supremacist racist?
 
So, to Putin/Sergeytsev, Ukrainians are racist and bigoted toward Russians. Along with a desire to be Western and independent, this Russophobia is also what makes them neo-Nazis.

“The elimination of such a Nazi community will require not only cutting off the top of its leadership, but purging the Nazis themselves of Nazi influence and involvement in Nazi ideology and practice. This is precisely the case of Ukraine, which has taken a mass Nazi oath through the seemingly benevolent political vector of “aspiration to Europe”, in the context of which, however, “Europeanism” is unambiguously considered not only by ideologists, but also by a significant part of the population as a sign of racial superiority.”

OK, the claim there is that Ukraine has taken on the U.S./European point of view and that perspective sees itself as racially superior.

Wait. Where have I heard that claim before? [e.g., CRT]

“In this regard, it is wrong and impossible to regard the moods of the Ukrainian masses as a manifestation of the so-called Stockholm syndrome, which implies the sympathy of the hostages for the terrorists who captured them. In fact, there is a massive transfer of the so-called hostages to the camp of terrorists.” —Sergeytsev

In other words, to Putin/Sergeytsev, the masses of Ukrainians are willing, Russophobic neo-Nazis. What Sergeytsev wrote in the recent article (quoted at the top) makes much more sense in light of the April, 2021, article.

Thus, Putin’s “denazification” goal is to erase this U.S./Euro-inspired Russophobic racism from all Ukrainians.

So, ironically, it turns out that Vladimir Putin and Company are in full agreement with Critical Race Theory [CRT], the 1619 Project, and Ibram X. Kendi; namely, that racial superiority is at the essential core of the American identity and is its way of operating. It clearly appears that Putin has partnered ideologically with CRT et al. to justify his Ukrainian “special military operations.” Clearly, CRT cynically applied in this manner is far beyond misappropriation, the term ‘hijacking’ comes straight to mind. 

In Putin’s own words

In an essay written in July, 2021, Putin denied the very existence of Ukraine; i.e., genocide by fiat. The logic is convoluted, but the line is visible from that 2021 essay to Putin’s neo-Nazi rationale for invading and deconstructing Ukraine now. With his non-existence claim, a heaping helping of revisionist history, a total misappropriation and perverse application of CRT, and the resulting customized definition of Nazism, Putin thinks he’s able to justify his vicious aggression against the Ukrainian people. Taken together, Sergeytsev’s articles clearly express the “neo-Nazi” reasoning that Putin used to justify his “special military operations” in Ukraine.

tl;dr

In two RIA Novosti articles (April 10, 2021 piece; April 3, 2022 piece), Timofey Sergeytsev traces the reasoning that Vladimir Putin employs to justify his “special military operations” in Ukraine; Putin’s rationalization for what is actually his Ukrainian genocide.

Russia’s appropriation and application of the core insights of Critical Race Theory for the purpose of surfacing “Ukrainian Russophobia” is a  hyper-cynical, opportunistic, misappropriated exploitation of CRT and is not a sensible way of perceiving the Ukrainian – Russian relational dynamics, let alone of justifying Russia’s criminal behavior in Ukraine.