Tatarstan Writers Union to 'Unite' with Union of Writers of Russia and Limit Itself to Local Issues

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 3 – Tatarstan has lost yet another vestige of its efforts in the 1990s to pursue an independent course: The Writers Union of Tatarstan, with its 312 members, has agreed to become part of the Union of Writers of Russia headed by the notorious Vladimir Medinsky and allow that body to decide all “key” questions.

            The Writers Union of Tatarstan will continue to exist at least for the present, but its leaders say that the times require unity with the all-Russian body and that the republic body will make decisions about regional and republic issues (milliard.tatar/news/soyuz-pisatelei-tatarstana-soletsya-s-soyuzom-pisatelei-rossii-8338).

            While there is likely to be some back-and-forth concerning what are “key” questions and what are only local or regional ones, this step almost certainly guarantees the near total subordination of the Tatarstan group to Moscow, a step which would have been unthinkable until recently.

            Now that the Russian Writer’s Union has brought the Tatarstan one to heel, it is likely that Moscow will feel even freer to move against the last vestiges of republic independence not only in Tatarstan but in other non-Russian republics. Consequently, what may seem a small move to many in fact is one that is certain to cast a large and dark shadow.