When Anastasia Nevyakina came to the United States eight years ago, she never expected that she would be returning home to an entirely different country from the one she had left behind. Nevyakina was born in Crimea, a region on the Black Sea that for decades had belonged to Ukraine — until it was annexed by the Russian Federation in March 2014 amid a pro-Russian rebellion.
"When I traveled to Crimea after the annexation, there was no one to talk to [about what had happened] because the independent journalists were bullied, and some were even physically harmed," Nevyakina said. "All the televisions were full of anti-West, anti-Ukrainian propaganda."
Nevyakina said she knew that what Russia was doing in Crimea was wrong. She watched as Crimeans who had initially supported the annexation slowly grew disillusioned as economic opportunities failed to materialize and promises made by the Russian government to deliver higher salaries and better products were not delivered. But at the same time, she found herself growing increasingly uncomfortable as sentiment in the United States grew more and more hostile toward Russia, culminating in economic sanctions imposed on Russian businesses throughout 2014.
Nevyakina, along with thousands of other Russian-Americans who were either born in Russia or whose parents emigrated from there, occupies a unique vantage point from which she can see both sides of the conflict. On the one hand, she said she recognizes that Russia has a long list of problems, from the restriction of freedoms under Russian President Vladimir Putin to the country's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been accused of human rights violations such as using chemical weapons against his own people. But on the other, she believes that the stance the United States has taken against Russia is sending relations in a dangerous direction — one that could have a serious impact on the citizens of both countries.
Problems in Perception
The actions the U.S. has taken in response to perceived Russian aggression in Ukraine and Syria have all followed a general trend toward punishment and criticism. Prominent politicians including vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine have denounced Putin as a dictator and publicly condemned Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for saying that he would work together with Putin if he were elected president. But according to Michael Parks, a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism who worked as a journalist in Moscow for many years, these responses have been based on hostile sentiments rather than rational decision-making.
"I think there is either a lack of understanding or an unwillingness to understand among American politicians what Putin is about, what motivates him," Parks said. "We blame Russia because it's convenient. People are trained to understand Russia as the enemy, and so it resonates."
This "us vs. them" mentality, according to Parks, has created a feedback loop that only leads to more hostile actions from Russia. Putin uses the international political tension as a way to distract from the economic and political problems he is facing at home, including rampant inflation and an uprising in Chechnya. Putin, Parks said, can simply point at the U.S. as the enemy the same way that Russians point at America, widening the diplomatic rift between the two countries.
Robert English, the director of the School of International Relations at USC, said that the U.S. not only lacks an understanding of Russian motives, but also feels the need to denounce Russia publicly as a strategic political move. According to English, America's reaction to Russian actions in both Ukraine and Syria stems from a continued desire to establish the U.S. as a dominant power, and to "fix" what Americans see as wrong in the world.
"Americans are very idealistic. We think that Russia's policy is just coming from Putin, and that if we could get rid of him, Russians would embrace our values," English said. "But we're dealing with a country, not just a person. We personalize it all as the policy of Putin, when it represents broader beliefs in Russia."
Close to Home
For Russian-Americans, the impact of rising tensions and worsening diplomatic relations has been more concrete than for most others in the U.S.
Alexandra Brouke, a sophomore at USC, was born in the U.S. to a Russian mother and an American father. She said that her non-Russian peers have a negative perception of Russia; her friends are afraid to travel there, and Russians are stereotyped as "enemies."
This view, Brouke said, is encouraged by the U.S. government as well as the American media, which she believes portrays the Russian government as worse than it actually is. For example, at a press conference on Oct. 11, a U.S. State Department spokesman accused Russia of intentionally targeting civilians through airstrikes in Syria. The accusations, according to Brouke, are not supported by evidence — and she said that although it's clear that Russia's support for Assad has led to bloodshed, a healthy dose of skepticism is necessary to have an objective view when it comes to serious allegations.
"I can't side with either country," Brouke said. "I can't view myself as an American or a Russian; I'm kind of stuck in between and I can't assimilate into either culture. That benefits me in a way because it lets me have an unbiased opinion on the policies of both countries."
Alex Lototsky, a law student who graduated from USC last year, said that her identity as a Russian-American actually gives her more reason to criticize the Russian government — but from an informed perspective. Lototsky was born in Moscow but moved to the U.S. in 1991, and has spent her life moving back and forth between the two countries. She said that her visits to Russia have made her more aware of the problems that the country faces. According to Lototsky, when most Americans criticize the country, it's simply a blanket dismissal of Russia as a dictatorship rather than an actual analysis of the issues it's facing.
"I think part of thinking about Russian politics from a more internal view is that it's criticism from a slightly different angle," Lototsky said. "I'm coming from a position of caring a lot about what happens in Russia — and definitely U.S.-Russian relationships affecting my family — but at the same time I'm coming from a place of agreeing that a lot of criticism is warranted."
This view, Lototsky said, has created tension within her own family, especially among relatives who still live in Russia. Putin's approval ratings are currently at 82 percent, a figure that has resulted from strong nationalist sentiment as well as a perception of the West as a common enemy, much the same way that the U.S. has perceived Russia.
"My grandparents especially are very trusting of state propaganda, and that caused a lot of tension," Lototsky said. "Politics becomes a banned topic with certain family members. I remember when [the] Crimea situation was going on it was the hardest, because those conversations were the kind that could end in screaming fights."
A Way Forward
With each new action that the U.S. or Russia takes that escalates the conflict, reconciliation seems further away. According to English, the estrangement of two of the most powerful countries in the world has consequences across the globe, as well as within families who feel torn between two homes. English is holding out hope, however, that it's not too late for politicians on both sides to stop and pay attention to the consequences of the growing rift.
"I'm saddened by the lost opportunities to cooperate on global issues when we both instinctively mistrust each other," English said. "I hope that there are cooler heads that will prevail, because we have opportunities for better relations with Russia. But in the heat of the campaign, so many feelings can be hurt that [the next president will] face a real uphill battle to find a cordial starting point with Russia — and that would be a shame."
Russian-Americans are uniquely placed in today's tense political climate. For Nevyakina, change will require cooperation from Russia and the U.S., both of which she said are currently ignoring internal problems in favor of blaming each other for their breakdown in diplomacy.
"I think in order to have any kind of progress, people need to acknowledge the wrongs that have been done on both sides," Nevyakina said. "From there, we can start to take action to repair the relationship between the United States and Russia in terms of actually making a positive change."
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Annenberg Media