Russia Won’t Survive in Current Form by 2050 when Muslims will Form Almost 40 Percent of Its Population, Iskhakov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 31 – If Moscow continues its Russian chauvinist policies, it will so alienate the growing share of those who aren’t Russian ethnically that the country’s survival in its current form will be impossible, Damir Iskhakov says. By that date, the Muslim nations within the borders of the Russian Federation alone will form 37 to 38 percent of its population.

            The senior Kazan historian draws that figure from UN statistics and says that any state that ignores or suppresses such a large portion of its population “will not be able to flourish” for long even if repression gives it some temporary victories. Indeed, “in the future, it won’t even survive” (idelreal.org/a/32646886.html).

            Because that is the case, Iskhakov continues, Tatars and other non-Russian peoples, however difficult their present state now is, have good reason to hope for the future. “Other peoples too will demand democracy,” he says; and therefore “we must not give way to pessimism.”

            Despite his call for remaining optimistic about the future of the Tatar nation, the senior Kazan historian devotes most of his remarks to pointing out just how dire the situation of his nation now is because of Moscow’s efforts to destroy federalism and the distinctive ethnic identities of all non-Russian peoples, including the Tatars.