Putin OKs Protecting Russians anywhere around the World

Russian Führer Vladimir Putin signed on May 25 a bill that effectively authorizes him to invade foreign countries under the guise of “protecting Russian citizens” abroad, according to the Kyiv Independent.

The legislation, passed by Russia’s State Duma on May 13, enables the Russian president to order troop deployments abroad to “protect” Russian citizens facing arrest, detention, trial, or other perceived persecution by foreign nations and international courts.

The news comes amid growing warnings by Western officials that Russia may launch an attack against NATO in the coming years, a scenario seen as increasingly realistic since the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian lawmakers have framed the legislation as part of their effort to “counter the campaign of rampant Russophobia that continues abroad.”

Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, linked the bill to the case of Alexander Butyagin, a Russian archaeologist who was detained in Poland for several months over illegal excavations in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Moscow has repeatedly threatened its neighbors under the pretext of protecting Russians living abroad. Russians have used this as justification for its latest wave of aggression against Ukraine since 2014.

Moscow’s legislation is similar to the one that Nazi Germany used during its reign. It stipulated the following:

Volksdeutsche (Ethnic Germans): These were ethnic Germans living outside the borders of the German Reich (e.g., in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Soviet Union). Hitler argued that because they shared “German blood,” they were entitled to protection and unification with the Fatherland.

Reichsdeutsche (Reich Germans): These were legally citizens of the German Reich living within the country’s borders.

The Pretext of Protection: Hitler often claimed Germany was acting in self-defense to protect oppressed Volksdeutsche in neighboring countries. In reality, these grievances were manufactured, serving as political leverage to annex territories (like the Sudetenland in 1938) and eventually launch World War II.

Volksliste (Registry): In occupied territories such as Poland, the Nazi regime compiled specific lists known as the Deutsche Volksliste to categorize and register ethnic Germans. This was used to grant them superior legal status, integrate them into the Reich, and force them to collaborate in Nazi war efforts.

The Nazis declared: Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer: This was one of the central propaganda slogans used during Hitler's regime, translating to “One People, One Nation, One Leader,” which mirrors Russian practices. It was also taken advantage of in 1938 during the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria) to promote the vision of a single, unified, and expansive German empire. Moscow also annexed Ukraine’s Crimean on the same basis.

Furthermore, the Brezhnev Doctrine declared by Leonid Brezhnev was a Kremlin foreign policy proclaimed in 1968 which asserted that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene—including militarily—in any socialist country where Communist Party rule and Soviet alignment were under threat. Effectively declaring that the sovereignty of Eastern Bloc nations was limited, the doctrine mandated that the preservation of socialism in one country was the collective responsibility of all communist states.

Its core principles were:

Limited Sovereignty: Individual socialist countries did not have the right to alter their political trajectory if it harmed the broader communist community.

Class-Based Law: Moscow argued that standard international laws of sovereignty were subordinate to the laws of class struggle and the preservation of global socialism.

Collective Duty: National communist parties were deemed responsible not only to their own citizens but also to the entire international communist.

As for dictators, Russian or Nazi, they can’t escape the truth about their imperial designs.