Russia’s new anticolonial narrative may seem in direct contradiction to the Kremlin’s imperial language on the war in Ukraine. Yet in the Global South, where both elite and popular cultures are deeply shaped by the memory of anticolonial struggles and the Non-Aligned Movement tradition, Russia’s language resonates.

Seen from the Global South, Russia’s actions are the byproduct of a broader, systemic context of Western domination and normative expansion. With the war, Global South countries have been able to consolidate their transactional foreign policies and use the war to assert their autonomy toward Western actors so that Russia’s weakening does not result in the West’s increased influence but in a more multipolar order.
This research project explores the evolution of Russia-Global South relations, as an invitation to “de-Westernize” our views on Russia. It is time to challenge the primacy of Western-centric analytical lenses put on Russia and engage with scholarly practice and experience from the Global South.