On this so-called Russia Day, as Secretary Marco Rubio extends empty congratulations to a nation whose legacy is one of destruction and bloodshed, we feel compelled to offer a different message: a message grounded not in diplomatic pretense but in moral clarity.

We do not celebrate Russia Day.

We do not honor a state that, under its current leadership, continues to terrorize its neighbors, silence its own citizens, and defy every principle of peace and justice. Where Senator Rubio speaks of "constructive engagement," we see only complicity if that engagement fails to name the reality: Russia is waging a war of aggression, led by a dictator, and fueled by an imperialist mythology that has long sought to dominate the Slavic world through unjust and immoral means.

We want to make one thing absolutely clear: the United States should support the Russian people only to the extent that they seek to reject and dismantle the legacy of violence and Sovietism that defines modern Russian statehood. This is a commitment to stand with those who resist, who dissent, who speak truth in the face of censorship, prison, or exile.

We reject the current Russian regime. We reject the nationalist ideology that claims Russian supremacy over Ukraine, over Belarus, over the peoples of the Caucasus, the Baltics, and Central Asia. We reject centuries of state-sponsored terrorism and erasure, anti-Western rhetoric, and military domination that continue to shape Russian policy today.

Our hope is not for "mutually beneficial relations" with a government that bombs civilians, annexes sovereign territory, and poisons journalists. Our hope is for a liberated Russia that is no longer shackled by authoritarianism and imperial delusion. A Russia that confronts its past honestly and makes amends for centuries of inexcusable violence. A Russia that knows how to use tools other than violence and aggression to assert its place in the world.

To those few in Russia fighting for that future: we stand with you. But we will not pretend that your government represents you, nor will we pretend that you are the majority. We stand side-by-side with those in Ukraine fighting this evil regime. We will not allow statements like Secretary Rubio’s to obscure what is actually required: resistance, accountability, and a dismantled and transformed Russia.

Until then, there can be no celebration of Russia.