Russia's War on Christmas

On Monday, December 9, the director of the Federal Project for Security and Anti-Corruption (FPBC), Vitaly Borodin, sent a letter to the Prosecutor General of Russia requesting that Santa Claus be officially recognized as an “agent of the foreigner » . The legendary figure well known in Western countries would contribute to “destroying traditional Russian values”.

Borodin's request, like a number of his requests, probably remained a dead letter.

• Borodin is a lawyer known in Russia for waging war against any public figure embodying a line that strays from Vladimir Putin's conservative and traditionalist agenda.
• In the spring of 2023, he notably attacked Lia Akhedjakova, an icon of Soviet and then Russian cinema because of her condemnation of the “special military operation” in Ukraine and, more broadly, of Kremlin policy.
• Shortly before, Borodin accused the singer and co-founder of the Russian rock group Notchnye Snaïpery, Diana Arbenina, of the same “crime” . Since March 2022, amendments to the criminal code and the code on administrative offenses have made “public actions aimed at discrediting” the Russian army illegal – which notably includes calling for an end to fighting.

Borodin considers that the economic power of the “Santa Claus brand” – which he estimates at $1,600 billion, more than the stock market valuation of Meta or Tesla – allows “many foreign companies to finance the image of Father Christmas in Russia. The objective of Western actors working covertly for this purpose would be to “destroy traditional Russian values” and, ultimately, replace the traditional Russian Santa Claus: Ded Moroz, or Grandfather Gel.

• The “representatives” of Ded Moroz themselves (in reality a company created by the authorities of the Vologda oblast, where one can visit the residence of Russian Santa Claus) themselves rejected Borodin's proposal, arguing that it was “illogical” .
• For good reason: Ded Moroz was promoted from the 1990s as an alternative aimed at combating the increasingly significant presence of Western Santa Claus in the Russian advertising landscape. Since its rehabilitation by Stalin in 1935, it had previously been part of communist propaganda aimed at repelling American capitalism.
• The fight of certain actors close to the Kremlin against Santa Claus is part of a broader effort to “protect” Russia from external influences. This involves intentionally slowing down access to YouTube, banning Western media or creating a Russian alternative to Wikipedia, Ruwiki.

This struggle also extends beyond Russia's borders. According to the Ukrainian government, authorities administering regions of Ukraine partially occupied by the Russian army have implemented a ban on children mentioning St. Nicholas as well as Santa Claus during the end-of-year holidays . During this holiday season, the morning program in primary and nursery schools will be devoted to “Russian culture”, its mythology and fairy tales – from which Ded Moroz comes.