Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an interview with Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, under the headline "Have they completely lost their fear?" On the eve of the Democracy Summit, a US-sponsored virtual meeting of leaders of democratic states, Patrushev said that Washington was trying to make the world live by its own rules, punishing those who disagreed with it, while the American state itself was on the verge of collapse, division into the North and South. The latter is likely to move closer to Mexico. Patrushev did not begin to explain what is so attractive for the southern states of Mexico, which is economically much weaker than the United States, but ended the interview with the following passage:
“Our centuries-old culture is based on spirituality, compassion and mercy. Russia is a historical defender of the sovereignty and statehood of any peoples who turned to her for help. She saved the United States at least twice – during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. But I believe that this time it is not advisable to help the States maintain its integrity.
Apparently, Patrushev wanted to say that Poland, twice – in 1795 and 1939 – deprived of sovereignty as a result of partitions in which Russia took the most active part, suffered because it simply did not turn to the "historical defender" for help.
With the salvation of the sovereignty of the United States, this was the case. In 1775, the British King George III asked Catherine II for help – sending a fleet and an expeditionary force to suppress the uprising of American colonists. Catherine refused and took a neutral position. The Russian historian Nikolai Bolkhovitinov wrote in Russia Discovering America that the British-Russian alliance did not work out because Britain was unwilling to commit itself to side with Russia in the event of a war with Turkey.
Later, Britain tried to put together a coalition of European powers that would establish a naval blockade of the declaring American colonies, but Russia again remained neutral, like most of the states of Europe. In 1780, Russia issued a declaration of armed neutrality, where it proclaimed the right of free maritime trade with all belligerents. Almost all the neutral countries of Europe joined the declaration. The same Bolkhovitinov indicates that at that time Russia's maritime trade was mainly in the hands of British merchants and was carried out on British ships; the war became an occasion to get rid of excessive British tutelage and develop their own merchant fleet.
Thus, Russia, unlike, for example, France, which openly entered the war with Great Britain, during the war for independence of the United States remained neutral and all its participation in the "salvation of the United States" consisted in the fact that it did not fight against them, although , in principle, could.
During the American Civil War, Russia sent warships to America. Russian historian, director of the US Research Foundation at Moscow State University Yuri Rogulev, in an interview with the Istoriya.rf portal, said that the United States was afraid of a possible attack by the British fleet on their Pacific coast, and in this situation Russia supported them by sending its squadron, consisting of Rynda corvettes ”, “Kalevala”, “Bogatyr” and “Novik”, as well as clippers “Abrek” and “Gaydamak”, to the port of San Francisco:
“Russia during this period took, on the one hand, a neutral position, and on the other, agreed to send a squadron that arrived in San Francisco and stayed there for several months. The appearance of this squadron was greeted with great enthusiasm by the inhabitants of California. Russian sailors were very well received: they participated in balls and local events – they had a very good time. Californians were grateful to Russia for being able to provide them with protection at such a difficult moment.”
To the question of the correspondent of the portal about how this visit influenced the course of the war, Rogulev replied:
"This had no effect on the war itself, since the fighting took place not on the West, but on the East coast."
However, Russian ships were also sent to the east coast, to New York – the frigates Oslyabya, Alexander Nevsky, Peresvet, the corvettes Varyag, Vityaz and the clipper Almaz. Their participation in the war was also limited to parades and balls.
The American military historian Patrick Lorenz, a former Russian officer, in his 1935 work “The Visit of Russian Squadrons in 1863” pointed out the reasons for this visit: in 1863, a Polish uprising broke out, supported by France. Napoleon III sent a sharp note to Russia demanding recognition of Poland's independence. The rebels were also supported by Great Britain and Austria. Russia was on the brink of war. In this situation, a paradoxical decision was made to send almost the entire Russian navy to the shores of America:
“Russia is in a desperate situation. Her navy, recently reorganized, was utterly insignificant in comparison with the fleets of the two largest maritime powers in Europe. In the event of war, the sea coasts of her vast empire, in the Baltic and Black Seas and in the Far East, were completely defenseless and subjected to blockade, bombardment and landing by her enemies. Her only chance was for England to withdraw from the coalition, for then the French fleet alone would not be large enough to harass Russia on all her maritime frontiers. Thus, Russia would not have been forced to disperse her army in order to defend her various maritime provinces. <…>
Russia's problem was to keep Britain from allying with France and Austria. A simple and at the same time ingenious solution was found by Admiral N.K. Crabbe, then commander of the Russian Navy. <…> The Russian fleet at that time included only about twelve ships, serviceable and suitable for cruising service. He proposed that two cruiser squadrons of approximately equal size, one from St. Petersburg and the other from Vladivostok, be formed and sent to the allied ports, with orders to arrive simultaneously in New York and San Francisco, respectively.
Surprised Europe learned one day from the arriving American newspapers that a squadron of Russian cruisers had anchored in the harbor of New York and that a few days later another Russian fleet passed the Golden Gate. These newspapers also reported the enthusiastic reception of the Russians by the American people. The impression made by these events on the governments and public opinion of the three Allies was enormous. It now appeared that while the two most powerful maritime powers of the time were threatening the coasts of the Russian Empire, the Tsar had changed the game and his fleet was threatening England and France from the rear. Having eluded their vigilance, the Russian squadrons now occupied, especially in relation to England, such a dominant and invulnerable position that the Allies were forced to drastically change their policy. All speculation about the benefits of action against the undefended coasts of Russia faded for a moment before the possibility of colossal losses that the Russians could inflict on the maritime trade and colonies of England and France. Russia's game has been won."
Thus, the visit of the Russian squadrons to the United States was associated not so much with the civil war, the course of which had practically no effect, but with fears of a war between Russia and the European powers. So in this case, too, Patrushev greatly exaggerated Russia's role in defending American sovereignty.