Russian Opposition United that Putin has to Go But Divided on What Comes Next

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 11 – The Free Russia Forum in Vilnius highlighted a fundamental problem in the Russian opposition: there is universal agreement that Vladimir Putin has to go but deep divisions on what come next with some wanting only a good tsar in place of a bad one and others seeking a fundamental reordering of the political arrangements in the country. 

            That division was in evidence in the plenary sessions and in two special sessions. The first heard a report by Andrey Illarionov who heads the forum’s working group on Russia’s future; the second featured a roundtable discussion as to whether Russia “needs a new federative treaty.”

            The roundtable was especially important. Chaired by Vadim Shtepa, the editor of the Tallinn-based Region.Expert portal, it included remarks by Syres Boyaen of Mordvinia, Dorko Dugavor of Buryatia, Vladimir Dovdanov of Kalmykia, Nafis Shapov of Tatarstan, Pavel Mezerin of the Free Ingria movement, and Ilya Lazarenko of the Rufabula site.

            In his remarks, Shtepa spoke for the regionalist and nationalist participants in the Vilnius forum. He suggested that “the problem of federalism is one of the key issues for present-day Russia” and those concerned about a better post-Putin future for the country need to focus on it (idelreal.org/a/30261541.html).

            “Unfortunately,” he continued, “a significant portion of those taking part in the meeting and many of the main speakers displayed a centralist approach. They suppose that everything will change for the better “when a new ‘good tsar’ appears in the Kremlin in place of the present bad one. In our views, there needs to be a more federalist way of discussing the future.”

            Other speakers echoed those views (idel-ural.org/archives/российская-оппозиция-не-видит-изъяно/).  Erzya national leader Boyaen was outspoken: he expressed disappointment, even anger that the Forum was not addressing issues of nationality, language and federalism but only promising to think about them (idel-ural.org/archives/боляень-сыресь-на-форуме-свободной-ро/ and   idelreal.org/a/30261694.html).

            That isn’t good enough, the Erzya chief priest and co-founder of the Free Idel-Ural movement said, given that while the Russian opposition talks, “we continue to be destroyed.”