The wretched of the Kremlin: Anticolonial discourse, Putin’s foreign policy, and the division strategies of the reactionary internationale

The Putin regime’s foreign policy communication has absorbed anticolonial discourse. By analysing Russian foreign policy discourse since Putin’s anti-Western turn from 2005 onwards, this article shows how anticolonial meanings are attached to key concepts in Russian foreign policy discourse, including traditional values, sovereign democracy, and unipolarity/multipolarity. The article argues that these concepts are developed and articulated with logics similar to the works of anticolonial thinkers like Frantz Fanon, Mahatma Gandhi, Aime Césaire, and Walter Mignolo – particularly in their critiques of colonial domination, their emphasis on Indigenous culture and tradition, and their visions of emancipation. The Putin regime’s absorption of anticolonial discourse has three interrelated strategic functions: first, it obscures power politics and authoritarian practices for domestic (and foreign) audiences; second, it plugs into central political debates and provokes diverse political reactions in liberal societies, deepening ideological and political divisions; and third, it exacerbates global ideological fault lines, thereby undermining liberal internationalism while promoting reactionary alternatives. Building on emerging research on reactionary internationalism, this article suggests that the absorption of anticolonial discourse should be understood as a strategic tool that helps divide the enemies of the Reactionary Internationale.