Paul Goble
Staunton,
Dec. 3 – As the Russian Federation acquired independence in 1991, Moscow made
sweeping promises to respect the rights of the republics and regions within its
borders and as a result separatist sentiment ebbed. But over the next 30 years,
Moscow violated all of its promises in this regard; and as a result, few of
them believe what Moscow says now.
That
is the conclusion that arises from a 5600-word commentary by journalist Darya
Kucherenko for Memorial om how Moscow moved “From Federalism to a Unitary State”
(verstka.media/issledovanie-o-tom-kak-rossiyskie-respubliki-poluchili-i-utratili-suverenetet
reposted at zapravakbr.ru/index.php/analitik/1910-ot-federalizma-do-unitarnogo-gosudarstva).
She details the way things have
changed in each decade since 1991. In the 1990s, republics and regions were
freer than they had been in Soviet times and were not afraid to challenge
Moscow even on issues like the war in Chechnya, although most saw what Moscow
did there as a sign that it would come down hard on any show of independence by
them.
In the first decade of this century,
Kucherenko writes, the Kremlin under Vladimir Putin worked to reverse all of the
progress of the 1990s, banning regional leaders from the Federation Council,
eliminating the direct elections of governors, reducing the economic freedoms
of the federal subjects, and imposing a common educational system on all of them.
In parallel with these institutional
changes, she continues, Moscow promoted xenophobia and allowed an ultra-right
Russian nationalist movement to emerge, thus setting the stage for an even broader
attack on the rights of the republics and even the regions. And in the second
decade of this century, Moscow eliminated direct elections of governors, ended
obligatory study of non-Russian languages, and inserted more central officials
into republics and regions.
Not surprisingly, by the third
decade of this century, the 2020s, Moscow declared the existence of a Russian
world in which there was no place for regional and republic differences. The
center promoted Russian identity and attacked republican and regional ones,
especially if this involved calls for decentralization or independence.
Activists in the republics and regions
have been radicalized by this trend. “If earlier they supported moderate views and
spoke out in favor of federalism, now, many of them openly call for separation
from Russia.” And they are receiving support from the OSCE and other international
structures.
“The peoples have awoken,” she
quotes Bashkir activist Ruslan Gabbasov as saying. “They see a chance to get
out from under the empire. Today, all liberal say that the regions must have
more authority. Therefore, I am certain
that when the Putin regime collapses, even if we remain within the Russian
Federation, we would receive powers no less than those of the 1990s.”
But that is no longer enough, he
says. “Over the course of 30 years, we have seen that what the center may give
us, they will very easily take back.” We must act so that Moscow won’t have
that opportunity ever again.