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Oleksandr Polianichev Profile picture
@OPolianichev
Apr 4, 2024 • 14 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
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Several Africans were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Tatarstan. Russia is now exploiting the attack to spark anti-Ukrainian feelings. If anything, however, this incident can elucidate a gendered and racialized reality behind Russia's charm offensive in Africa. 🧵 Image
"I'm from Kenya. I'm a person of color (...) Those who attacked our hostel today are real barbarians," the person on the video says. They are one of the participants of the "Alabuga Start" program, launched in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. 2/
The program targets young people from countries that Russia officially recognizes "friendly," mostly from Africa. Through ads in Russian international media and on the program's social media accounts, they are recruited to move to Russia. 3/ Image
Specifically, they are invited to join the Alabuga Polytech college in the Tatarstan town of Elabuga. 4/ Image
"Alabuga Start" participants are required to work more than study. In a nearby facility, students are involved in the mass production of what the college calls "boats." 6/ Image
The "boats" is just an euphemism for Shakhed drones, which Russia previously used to buy from Iran, but which it now produces itself in large numbers. Dozens of them are sent to Ukraine nearly every day, murdering people all across the country: 7/ Image
The "Alabuga Start" Facebook account has many photos of the newly arrived students. The college takes pictures of them just in the airport: 8/

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The main question – and someone has already asked it in the comments on Alabuga's FB page – is this: 9/ Image
Indeed, only female students younger than 22 can come to Alabuga. As the Russian investigative project "Protokol" found out, Alabuga's director Timur Shagivaleev argued that male students from Africa "can be too aggressive and dangerous." 10/
protokol.band/2023/07/24/ala…
In one of his interviews, Shagivaleev said that the female-only admission policy is meant to prevent the emergence of "ethnic diasporas" and foster their "integration into society." At Alabuga, there's no room for men of color. 11/
rt.rbc.ru/tatarstan/13/0…
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According to "Protokol," women of color at Alabuga are officially designated as "mulatto." This is one of the three racialized categories. The rest are either "Tajiks" (a term that is often used for people from Central Asia in general) or "specialists" (apparently, Russians). 12/ Image
"Protokol" says that students spend 12 hours a day producing the deadly drones. African women live in isolation from other students. It is not clear whether they actually assemble the drones or, as "Protokol" suggests, are used as low-skilled labor. 13/
To read more about how "race" informs Russian "African" initiatives, here's my earlier piece on the widely-hyped "Afrovillages." end/
themoscowtimes.com/2023/09/27/rus…
As I was writing this thread, Alabuga drones attacked Kharkiv, hitting several apartment complexes and killing at least four.

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More from @OPolianichev

Oleksandr Polianichev Profile picture
Sep 2
Few people know that in Tianjin, the Russian colonial concession (brown on the map) was second only to the British in size. There, a Russian merchant could ride a rickshaw down Zheleznodorozhnaia Street toward the railway station, or stroll along Russkaia Embankment.🧵 Image
Established in 1900, after Russian troops—the largest contingent of the international expeditionary corps—helped occupy the city, the concession was the latest tsarist foothold in China. 2/ Image
As one contemporary described it, “The Tianjin concession is the best prize of the recent war. Watered with Russian blood, it may bring millions in profit and become a beautiful and profitable place—an ornament to the city and the envy of foreigners.” 3/ Image
Read 10 tweets
Oleksandr Polianichev Profile picture
Aug 24
For Ukraine’s Independence Day, here’s a telling document from the 1668 Cossack rebellion against Moscow rule. Hetman Ivan Briukhovetskyi—who had himself helped bring Ukraine under Moscow’s dominion—now wrote of “Ukraine, our sweet fatherland,” ... 🧵 Image
... divided the year earlier between the Tsardom of Moscow and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and now “plundered and devastated” by both, who sought to “eradicate the residents of big and small towns.” 2/
The hetman described attacks on Russian garrisons across Ukraine, which he had enabled just three years earlier:
“We did not wish to drive them out of Ukrainian cities by the sword, but intended, without bloodshed, to escort them safely to the Muscovite border.” 3/ Image
Read 8 tweets
Oleksandr Polianichev Profile picture
Aug 15
Saying Alaska was “part of Russia” is like saying India under the East India Company was “part of Britain.” A textbook overseas colony of the empire that, according to Putin, “never colonized anyone,” Alaska was the Russian imperial state’s most peculiar possession. 🧵 Image
Administered by the joint-stock chartered Russian-American Company, which created its own system of governance, exploitation, and resource extraction, Russian America emulated the practices of St. Petersburg’s Western colonial rivals, with British India as the prime example. 2/ Image
After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, as company rule came under fire and Britain imposed direct crown administration, similar debates were unfolding in the tsar’s halls of power. By 1865, the RAC’s inefficiency prompted the government to take control of the colony. 3/
Read 6 tweets
Oleksandr Polianichev Profile picture
Sep 25, 2024
A massive blast wave from a Ukrainian drone strike on an arms depot near Toropets in central Russia shook the grave of one of the most notorious figures in Russian imperial history. Who was he? This 🧵will take you through some of the darkest chapters of Russia's colonial past. Image
On September 18, the “Ukraine war” made a sudden visit to every household in Toropets, shattering windows and knocking down doors. Standing silently before the towering mushroom cloud was a bronze monument to General Aleksei Kuropatkin, the region's most famous native. 2/ Image
Today, his name would hardly ring any bell for anyone unfamiliar with the history of imperial Russia. But in the early 20th century, Kuropatkin's name was known worldwide. He embodied the quintessential colonialist—wherever the empire expanded, he was there to serve it. 3/ Image
Read 25 tweets
Oleksandr Polianichev Profile picture
Sep 9, 2024
Among the reasons Crimea holds a special place in the Russian imagination is its prominence as the theater of military action during 1854–56. However, the Crimean War was also Russia's first major encounter with the peninsula, 70 years after its annexation.🧵 Image
As the war erupted, a massive flow of tsarist troops surged into Crimea from the Russian provinces, while in return, letters, newspaper articles, and travel notes flowed back from the Crimean shores to the metropole. It seemed that everyone who could write was eager to share their impressions of the unfamiliar land they were encountering for the first time. 2/
After Russia's disastrous defeat, the flow of impressions only intensified. Officers, journalists, and other members of educated society sought to explain the significance of this place, where so much blood had been spilled. Among them was Aleksandr Pogosskii, a publisher of influential journals aimed specifically at rank-and-file soldiers, such as Soldatskaia beseda and later Dosug i delo. 3/
Read 12 tweets
Oleksandr Polianichev Profile picture
Sep 3, 2024
Showcasing migrants in an exhibition to emphasize the allegedly negative aspects of their impact on the urban life of a metropolis is not something we expect to see today. Yet, this is precisely what a current exhibition in Moscow is doing. Why?🧵 Image
The man in the photo above is taking a selfie in front of a kebab shop. This entire scene is part of an exhibit, and the man is the chairman of the Moscow City Duma, visiting one of the largest and most ambitious exhibitions held in Russia's capital in recent years. The exhibition, titled "Moscow 2030," depicts the city as a techno-utopia come true, seemingly untouched by the realities of war. 2/Image
Visitors to the Manege Exhibition Hall are invited to explore two contrasting visions of Moscow: the "vibrant" city of today, boasting cutting-edge transport infrastructure... 3/ Image
Read 16 tweets

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