Russian fascism, also known as Rashism or Ruscism, is a Russian variant of fascism which emerged in the aftermath of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. Its origins have been attributed to Russia's refusal to distance itself from its Soviet authoritarian past, and it combined ultranationalist "Great Russian chauvinism" with extremely cruel and violent tactics such as wartime scorched-earth practices, support for military expansionism (especially in Chechnya, Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine), the idea of Moscow as the "Third Rome", an un-democratic system, and a belief in a "special civilizational mission" of the Russians. Russian fascism's chief ideologues were Ivan Ilyin, Aleksandr Dugin, and Timofey Sergeitsev, and the term "Rashism" became popular in the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, after which it was used to describe supporters of Russia's "special military operation" and the perpetrators of crimes against humanity such as genocide, deportations, and war crimes. Ruscism claimed to be "anti-fascist", with Vladimir Putin claiming that his invasion of Ukraine was meant to "de-Nazify" the country, but it shared many ideological commonalities with Adolf Hitler's brand of fascism. While the term was popular in Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelensky predicted on 23 April 2022 that the concept of "Ruscism" would one day be in the history books, the term was criticized for equating the entire Russian nation with fascism.