And how about Russia, that supposed great opponent of Nazism and defender of traditionalism, opposed to the “woke” Ukraine? Supporters will point to a 2013 law banning the distribution of material in favor of nontraditional sexual relationships to minors, which is on the books. But, as mentioned above, as a people Russians are no more anti-LGBT than Ukraine. The much-vaunted Russian Orthodox Church, held up by trads inside and outside of Russia, is likewise beset with problems, and is typically silent (at best) about Putin’s rather un-Christian violence both in and outside Russia. Although Putin’s government has funded the building of thousands of churches, many of them sit empty, and church attendance under Putin has fallen from its already relatively low late-1990s “heights.” And while Putin has regularly preached about the importance of traditional families, his rule has seen a startling increase in the number of marriages ending in divorce (in 2021, the divorce rate in Russia reached a seven-year high). Perhaps the divorce rate is so high because of Russia’s domestic violence, which was decriminalized by Putin’s government in 2017. On top of all this, the country has one of the world’s highest abortion rates. So much for Russia being a socially conservative paradise.

What about Russia’s image as a defender against Nazism and fascism? The Kremlin has named the so-called de-Nazification of Ukraine as one of its primary casus belli for the war. But de-Nazification, already a concept with no real-world foundation when it comes to Ukraine, has after only a month given way to calls in Russian media for “de-Ukrainization” by means of mass murder and cultural destruction by means of genocide. Ironically, in (officially) attempting to pare down fascism on its borders, the Russian state has regressed into a police state itself. Protesters have been arrested for holding up blank signs and, once taken to jail, have been threatened with violence by police. And, bringing to mind the symbols of early 20th-century authoritarian regimes, the letter “Z,” originally used as a military marking painted onto the invaders’ tanks, has been paraded by the Russian government as a symbol representing support for their invasion and for Putin. Citizens are being encouraged to sport the symbol. Some, like Russian athletes, have done so knowing what it means. Others, like the terminally ill children in a cancer hospice who were made to stand in a Z formation in the middle of the Russian winter snow, have not.