The Russian Foreign Ministry's reprimand of Germany over its solidarity with Israel – to the point that Moscow even played down the enormity of the Holocaust – may have made headlines, but in practice, it is just another indication of the growing hostility from Moscow towards Jerusalem. And this hostility reflects the ever-growing mindset in Russian foreign and domestic policy, which is here to stay.
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Even before October 7, antisemitic or quasi-antisemitic statements had become more frequent among Russian officials and public discourse, stemming mainly from the fact that Israel did not cooperate with the "de-Nazification" narrative Moscow has used to explain the invasion of Ukraine. But that was nothing compared to the reactions after the horrific massacre itself.
Here is a taste of that. Even before the blood had dried, the Russian TV channels cast doubt on reports of Hamas atrocities; in the pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, there was no mistaking that there was a pro-Palestinian narrative; a Hamas delegation visited Moscow twice; Russia's UN ambassador argued that Israel is an occupying force and therefore has no right to self-defense; Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that the Hamas attack "did not happen in a vacuum"; it took Vladimir Putin 10 days after the massacre to phone Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and even then it took place only as part of the calls with regional leaders. And let's not forget the rise in hostility towards Israel and Jews, especially in the Muslim areas of the Russian Caucasus, culminating in the pogrom carried out by a mob at the Makhachkala airport.
From Russia's perspective, the cooling of relations has taken place in a broader global context, which Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova also hinted at: the change in the "rules-based world order" that according to Moscow had been rigged in Washington's favor. The criminal invasion of Ukraine itself was part of the Kremlin's effort to change the world order. At the same time, Russia has entered into a close alliance based on shared interests with China, North Korea, and Iran. With the latter two it now also has growing military cooperation.
The alliance of interests is meant to weaken the influence of liberal democracies that support Ukraine; Israel, which has chosen to remain neutral regarding the war, is still perceived by the radical Russian establishment as part of the West, and certainly as an ally of the great enemy, the US.
Another component is Russia's intense two-year courtship of the global south, parts of which are Muslim, Arab, and anti-Israel, and at times – all three combined. Moscow has cast itself as an alternative to the "hypocritical West", and support for the "oppressed" Palestinians against "colonialist Israel" is an influential lever in developing countries. In fact, by siding with Gazans Russia also gets brownie points among anti-Israel circles in the West itself.
A (distorted) history repeats itself
Finally, a word about the use of the Holocaust. In response to Zakharova's statement, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat tweeted, "The use of Holocaust discourse in contemporary political contexts by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson constitutes contempt of the Holocaust and causes harm to the victims and survivors."
The problem runs deeper: In criticizing Berlin, Zakharova echoed Soviet politics of memory, which prohibited singling out the destruction of Jews in memorializing Nazi victims within the USSR. This policy did not prevent Moscow from exploiting Jewish suffering during and after the war to extract political and economic benefits. History has come full circle: In official Russian discourse today, the USSR is back in vogue, the cult of victory over the Nazis in 1945 has long been a de facto state religion, while Germany is now back to being rogue (and now the entire collective West alongside it). And the Holocaust? Both the original and the actions on October 7 are merely an opportunity to bash the West.
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