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perceived conspirator was the United States, often inseparable from its “satellite” states
in Europe and elsewhere.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and communist ideology, as well as the effect of
severe and protracted economic crisis in Russia, greatly influenced both the content and
prevalence of conspiracy theories. On the one hand, post-Soviet Russia largely turned
away from such ideas as they were associated with some of the seedier aspects of Soviet
ideology, including enemy seeking, calls for tightening the political regime, and
repression against “accomplices of the enemy.” On the other hand, widespread nostalgia
for the USSR, the rise of nationalist sentiment, severe economic circumstances, emerging
ethnic conflicts and separatism, and perceived decline of moral values fuelled
conspiracy theories.
These theories provided, first and foremost, simple and clear explanations for the
reasons for these ills. According to one of the most typical explanations of this kind, the
United States arranged the collapse of the USSR and then, by manipulating the corrupt
Russian leadership, induced it to implement disastrous reforms, stir up secessionism,
and promote immoral and corrupting patterns of mass culture. Among texts that fuelled
anti-American conspiracy theories in Russia, a key one was the so-called “Dulles plan,”
made public by the Russian media in 1993. According to the plan, supposedly invented
by former CIA chief Allen Dulles, the United States aimed to corrupt the USSR by
secretly promoting immorality, corruption, alcoholism, and drug addiction among its
citizens. By the 2000s, proof that the plan was false was generally known (the plan’s
content corresponded to text from Anatoly Ivanov’s novel Eternal Call). However, it was
still cited by some regional politicians (who alleged that the anti-Putin opposition was
still carrying it out) even during the presidential election campaign of 2012.
In the post-Soviet period, the range of conspiracy theories became more diverse,
accompanied by a decline in America’s “hidden hand.” This was due, partly, to the
increasing popularity of radical nationalism in Russia, which added secret Masonic and
Zionist organizations, China, Turkey, and international radical Islamic groups to the
roster of Russian antagonists.
Among the pro-Western ruling elite that was in power in the 1990s, conspiracy
theories were not that popular, but such ideas were widely accepted among the military
and the security services. This popularity can probably be explained by an entrenched
“
besieged fortress” and “worst-case scenario” mentality, together with the spread of
ideas of classical geopolitics stressing the inevitability of a geographic and perpetual
Russia-U.S. confrontation. Such a mindset implied that democratic freedoms and
international contacts should be restricted in order to cover all possible security breaches
that could be used by potential external enemies and their internal accomplices. Putin’s
affiliation with the security services and the strengthening of the latter’s position during
his presidency made it more likely that the regime would employ conspiracy theories in
its rhetoric and policy.
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