29 November 2025, 13:20
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s journal “International Affairs” published an article by three diplomats in which quotes from Donald Trump about Russia appear alongside statements by Adolf Hitler.
The material demonstrates a classic mechanism of psychological projection: Hitler’s successors accuse the American president of following his line.
Song About Conquering Europe as Title
The article is titled “Burn to the English Channel? On Effective Security Guarantees in the Context of Russia’s Historical Confrontation with the West.” This is a quote from a song by the band “Arbalet,” which declares that Russia will burn territories up to the English Channel and then “reach” the White House.
The authors are three employees of the Second CIS Countries Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry: Deputy Director Dmitry Demurin, Department Head Anton Postigov, and Department Intern Timofey Kholin. This department oversees relations with Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus.
Projection as State Policy
The article claims that Russia in Ukraine is confronting “the same enemies who attacked our homeland 85, 100, and 200 years ago.” The diplomats draw parallels with the foreign intervention during the Civil War of 1917.
To confirm the “unchanging approaches of the West,” the authors cite three quotes:
- Hitler called the USSR a “colossus on clay feet”
- US President Ronald Reagan called it an “empire of evil”
- Donald Trump called it a “paper tiger”
Thus, the Foreign Ministry placed statements by the current American president alongside a Nazi dictator and a Cold War-era leader.
The irony of the situation is that it is precisely Russia that continues Hitler’s cause — waging aggressive war in Europe, annexing territories, destroying civilian populations, deporting children. Yet it accuses its victims and those who help them of “fascism.” Classic psychological projection: attributing one’s own flaws and intentions to opponents.
“Colossus on Clay Feet”: From Dostoevsky to Hitler
Particularly revealing is Hitler’s quote about the “colossus on clay feet.” The authors fail to mention that this expression regarding Russia was used by Fyodor Dostoevsky back in the 19th century. The writer understood the fragility of an empire whose might rested on two ports — Odessa and St. Petersburg — through which the “oil of that time” — grain — flowed to Europe and the world.
Hitler merely repeated the diagnosis of the Russian classic. And modern Foreign Ministry diplomats, being continuators of Hitler’s project to redivide Europe, attribute this logic to Trump, who simply states the obvious: Russia’s economy, the size of Spain’s, cannot compete with the united West.
“Russian Troops in Paris or Berlin”
The article’s main conclusion is unequivocal: “Without achieving victory or creating military-political conditions that will be unconditionally perceived as victory inside Russia and abroad, it will be impossible to force the West to negotiate with us.”
The diplomats reference historical experience: “Historically, they have always been much more inclined to consider our proposals for forming a new security architecture when Russian troops stood in Paris or Berlin.”
This is an explicit program of aggression and occupation of European capitals. Meanwhile, the aggressor accuses the West — which merely helps the victim of aggression defend itself — of aggression. Projection again: attributing one’s own intentions of conquest and occupation to those who resist conquest.
The authors also propose to “destroy the unity of the Western bloc by playing on contradictions between its leading powers,” as Soviet diplomacy did after the war. A tactic inherited from Nazi Germany, which also attempted to split the anti-Hitler coalition.
Fascists Accuse the World of Fascism
Russian propaganda constantly accuses Ukraine of “Nazism” and “fascism,” and the West of supporting fascists. Meanwhile, Russia itself implements a classic fascist program:
- Aggressive war for “living space”
- Annexation of foreign territories
- Deportation of conquered peoples’ children
- Cult of the leader and militarism
- Total propaganda and suppression of dissent
- Dreams of “Russian troops in Paris and Berlin”
Being essentially fascists, Russian ideologues accuse the entire world of fascism. Being aggressors, they identify victims of their aggression as aggressors. Being continuators of Hitler’s cause, they accuse Trump of following his line.
This is not mere hypocrisy. This is systematic psychological projection as an instrument of state policy.
Contradicting Official Policy
The article appeared amid US attempts under Trump to explore possibilities for a deal on Ukraine. The authors’ position directly contradicts the Kremlin’s public rhetoric, which separates the Trump administration from other Western countries’ leadership and attempts to negotiate with it about resuming cooperation.
“International Affairs” has been published since 1922, and its council is headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Dmitry Demurin regularly publishes in the journal — in recent years he has written about the West’s “rewriting of history,” the “existential character” of the war in Ukraine, and “historical revisionism.”
The October issue reveals that within the Russian foreign policy establishment there exists an influential faction that opposes any compromises and sees the only solution in military victory followed by occupation of European capitals.
Projection as method: accusing Trump of following Hitler’s line, the Foreign Ministry diplomats themselves articulate a program that the Führer of the Third Reich could have signed.
Oleh Cheslavskyi — independent historian and analyst specializing in deconstructing imperial narratives.
Originally published at spilno.org