It would be wrong, as some have argued, to mechanically take Lenin’s “five essential features” found in Chapter VII as giving a criterion for admission into some kind of imperialist club.

It could not be clearer that Imperialism as a Special Stage of Capitalism is not about the status of individual countries in the imperialist system, but about imperialism as a whole. Capital concentration, the merging of financial capital with industrial capital, the export of capital, international monopolies, and the territorial division of the world (spheres of interest) are features of the imperialist stage of capitalism, and not necessarily any individual country in the imperial project.

Whether it is tsarist Russia (a mix of emerging capitalist relations in urban areas and only weakly exited feudal relations in rural areas) or Vladimir Putin’s Russia (a stunted industrial capitalist economy, but with enormous essential resources), the capacity to participate in great power activity, to enlarge or protect spheres of interest, to confront other great powers is an unquestionable reality. Whether it is tsarist Russia (a mix of emerging capitalist relations in urban areas and only weakly exited feudal relations in rural areas) or Vladimir Putin’s Russia (a stunted industrial capitalist economy, but with enormous essential resources), the capacity to participate in great power activity, to enlarge or protect spheres of interest, to confront other great powers is an unquestionable reality.

To hide this reality — this active participation in the conflict with other capitalist countries — behind the facade that Russia does not meet the “five essential features” characterising the imperialist era is sheer sophistry.