Of course, if professional Western ideologists were to label everyone who rejects the utopian goals of “democratism”—including their own laborers and farmers—as agents of the Kremlin, then it is possible to find the logic in these explanations. That, however, is a severe form of schizophrenia typical of all ideologues that find themselves at odds with reality. All leaders, including those in Russia, would do well to bear in mind the consequences of that illness.

Alexander Lukin is head of the Department of International Relations at National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.