Many differences separate the current scenario from the tsarist antecedent. Russia’s confluence with Western powers has been replaced by serious clashes. This confrontation determines expansive tendencies of a different kind. Comparisons with the USSR omit the absence of capitalism under that system. There were mechanisms of external oppression, but no Soviet imperialism.
Russia’s secondary place in the imperialist hierarchy is not synonymous with sub-imperialism. Nor does an ambiguous relationship with the world’s dominators prevail. Internal colonialism has re-emerged, but it does not define the imperial condition, nor does it determine the sign of national movements in the post-Soviet space.
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