This article here warns about reading too much into it or painting to broad of a brush when inferring Russia's motives for its recent aggressive actions and posturing, but it almost goes too far in dismissing it as completely irrelevant. Some observers mistakenly blame Putin’s invasion on an old doctrine - The Washington Post I'm curious whether this is actually a thing among the Russian population in recent times, even if it's just a subset of the hyper-nationalists.
Hmm. Judging by the lack of responses, I guess no one here knows anything about what it's like inside Russia. Either that, or they don't want to share or exchange ideas or knowledge about the culture.
Well I read the article, and it was making the case that the "Third Rome" concept is basically a religious one, not a political one, so I'm not sure what sort of conversation you want to have.
I think the "Third Rome" idea may be factor but only a supporting factor, and only for some, mostly a few intellectuals. The average Russian does not really know anything about this "Third Rome" idea. It fits with the notion that Russia is a bastion of tradition and is going to "save" Europe. Although even that idea is not too strong, since Russia has traditionally been at the periphery in European history, except during Soviet Communism where Russia may have had strong influence in half of Europe but it was doing just the opposite from defending tradition. Religion is also a factor, which could be seen as a relic from the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, but it's not a strong factor. Half of that is just being used by Putin to help try to consolidate political support, with many conservatives in Russia feeling some light attachment to supporting religion simply because it is seen as traditional, even if they are not very religious themselves. We can also point that the architectural design and furniture inside the Russian presidential buildings are Neoclassical, which has a Third Rome connection through an earlier time period in France. Putin's favorite diplomatic table was commissioned and crafted in Italy.
