Those in Russia who Want to Separate from Moscow Too Often Seek to Isolate Themselves from Their Neighbors, Bubon Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 21 – Most of the rhetoric of those in Russia’s regions or republics who seek independence is about separating themselves from Moscow, Konstantin Bubon says; but all too often this grows over into plans to separate themselves from their neighbors as well, something that would make it impossible for them to achieve their broader goals.

            Such people must come to recognize that the problem they and their regions and republics face is not Moscow per se but Moscow as the redistributor of wealth from regions and republics that have enormous natural resources to those who have less, the Khabarovsk lawyer argues (region.expert/no-borders/).

            What is in fact needed, he argues, is the transformation of the economy in what is now the Russian Federation from one based on the extraction and sale of raw materials into one that produces goods and services. Unless that happens, the regions and republics will continue to suffer even if they secede and become separate states.

            Once people outside of Moscow recognize that that is their primary task, Bubon says, they will see the need not to build new borders along the periphery of their territories but rather to cooperate together to change the economy and so their own possibilities. Unless that is recognized, he argues, the future of such places will be bleak indeed.