Russian Democrats Abroad Make Significant Concession to Non-Russian Republics but Not Yet to Predominantly Russian Regions

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 2 – When the Fourth Congress of Peoples Deputies met in Warsaw at the end of December, the assemblage of Russian political figures now in emigration who were once elected officials inside the Russian Federation made significant concessions to nationalists in the non-Russian republics but not to regionalists in predominantly Russian areas.

            After much discussion and many amendments, the Congress adopted a resolution concerning its policies toward non-Russian republics in the North Caucasus that went far beyond what this group has done earlier. (For the text of this resolution, see rosdep.online/postanovlenie-sezda-narodnyh-deputatov-ob-otnosheniyah-rossijskoj-respubliki-s-narodami-kavkaza/; for the positive reactions of most non-Russians, see idelreal.org/a/32708379.html).

            The key portion of the resolution reads as follows:

“The new Russia breaks with the imperial practices of the past and is ready to build relations with the peoples and states of the Caucasus on an equal and fair basis. The principles contained in the agreement between the Russian Federation and the (self-proclaimed “Idel. Realities”) Chechen Republic can be used as the basic principles of these relations Ichkeria dated May 12, 1997. They will become the leadership in the activities of the government of the free Russian Republic. For your and our freedom!"

 

               Had Moscow abided by the terms of that agreement, Ichkeria would have become independent. And so this new declaration offers non-Russians within the current borders of the Russian Federation much of what they have wanted, although representatives of these groups do point out that making such a declaration and abiding by it are different things.

 

               With respect to those in predominantly Russian regions, the Congress was less forthcoming, with some regionalists suggesting that this reflected the unwillingness of those taking part to recognize that Russians are not an integral whole. But others said that they felt that at present, democrats and regionalists have a common agenda, although they may diverge.

 

               Some observers, like Kharun Sidorov from Prague, even suggested that there is a de facto regionalist group within the Congress and that it may play an ever stronger role in the future, possibly giving the regionalists at some future session a declaration like the one the nationalists have received.