I think Russians constitute an exception that demonstrates how absurd the framework of race is. Actually, race is a means to simplify and create a mass ideology to support national oppression. I.e. someone is exploitable because they 'look' like a certain 'race'. In actuality, 'race' is a paper put over a political-power relationship. This is not to say that race does not radically structure and effect people's lives! Anti-blackness and racism are very real and very harmful institutions.

They myth of 'race' requires biologically distinct 'races' that have different innate worths. Ethnic russians create a paradox in this system because on the one hand they meet the white aesthetic ideal, but on the other hand, the Russian state's interests are diametrically opposed to the Western States' interests.

[CW: ethnic slur for Russians] This is why you see the absurd anti-Russian 'orcs' propaganda. Because Russians are aesthetically 'white' none of the established racist tropes can be applied because there is not enough supposed difference between Russians and 'white' Westerners. That's why it falls so flat and feels so forced, in my opinion.