Russians often do not question the theories of conspiracy theorists who come from the West, political scientist Alexei Makarkin told NEWS.ru. He noted that in the 1990s, when freedom of speech came to the country, society was not ready for it - this actually made the Russian Federation one of the centers of world conspiracy theories.
Paradoxically, some Russians who have a negative attitude towards the United States have begun to accept Western conspiracy theories. If we take, for example, Orthodox circles, then conspiracy theories often followed a certain route. From the West, the marginal theory came to the attention of Greek Orthodox circles. In turn, Russian Orthodox believers pay attention to what the Greeks write. For example, the theory that the Taxpayer Identification Number is a sign of the Antichrist has spread this way ,” Makarkin said.
In the 1990s, guidelines changed in Russia and censorship barriers disappeared, the political scientist noted. This, he said, led to the dissemination of various information: while some began to publish the previously banned novel Doctor Zhivago, others began to publish anti-Semitic brochures. Makarkin believes that people were not ready for such freedom of speech; that period had a traumatic effect on society.
Earlier, the chairman of the international committee of the Federation Council, Grigory Karasin, said that the Polish authorities are spreading conspiracy theories about the crash of the Tu-154 plane near Smolensk, on board of which was former Polish President Lech Kaczynski. He recalled that Warsaw had been circulating the version of the “Russian trace” for a long time for readers who do not know the details, but no evidence of the Russian Federation’s involvement in the disaster was ever presented.