War Fever Heats Up As Russians Burn Effigies of Trump
Trump’s tweet about U.S. missiles blasting past Russian defenses in Syria left many Russians thinking the Motherland might be next. Plus: oligarch sanctions and military exercises.
ANNA NEMTSOVA
04.14.18 8:26 AM ET
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia—Cossacks are famous fighters, and right now they are among many in Russia who are preparing for an imminent war with the United States, or at least they say they are.
On Thursday, the leader, or “ataman,” of the Russian Orthodox Cossack organization Irbis, Andrei Poliakov, was looking for the best place to burn an effigy of Donald Trump, an event scheduled for Monday of next week. And Poliakov may not be the only one.
President Trump’s tweet last week telling Russians to “get ready” for U.S. missiles in Syria prompted fear and fury all over this country. Nationalists in Russia and the Chechen region called on the world to "stop this animal Trump, this clown" from threatening Russia with war. All too soon, Trump’s statement was torn out of the context in which it was made, about punitive action against the Assad regime in Syria for the use of chemical weapons, and quickly interpreted as a threat to every household in Russia.
So, speaking at his St. Petersburg office decorated with icons and swords, the ataman told The Daily Beast that Cossacks, who once lionized Donald Trump as a great friend of Russia, now have no words left to describe him. “By burning Trump’s effigy and the U.S. flag we’ll express what we really think about the war that the United States has declared to Russia.”
Poliakov explained that Cossacks have seen themselves historically as patriotic Russian soldiers, always ready to defend the state’s interest. “When the war with the United States begins, Cossacks will fight in special units, just as they do today, fighting as private Russian troops in Syria,” the ataman said. “When both Russia and America nuke each other, survivors in our country will suffer from the shortage of water, of food supplies, of gas, millions of refugees will crowd roads from all over the country, move to villages, just to find some shelter,” Poliakov said, describing the nuclear war between Russia and United States as if the U.S. airstrikes were hitting St. Petersburg’s graceful architecture at that very moment.
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We are at war with EastAsia. We have always been at war with EastAsia.
