The ideology of Russophobia: spiritual and historical sources of its development

The study focuses on the spiritual and historical aspect of the Russophobic ideology. The author briefly analyzes the main stages of Western Russophobia development in the historical context. The research identifies that this ideology is based on the idea of superiority of the Western world. It emerged in the antique era and initially touched on the Eastern Roman Empire. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, these concepts were extended to Russian civilization. The main factors that determined the Russophobic paradigm in the spiritual aspect were the perception of Russia as the Eastern territory of the Christian world, as well as the opposition of Western (Catholicism) and Eastern (Orthodoxy) Christianity. The research revealed two key ideas that founded the ideological basis of Russophobia: the idea of the aggressive nature of Russian politics and the idea of Russian barbarism, their lack of culture and civilization.