West Provoking Nationalist and Separatist Attitudes in Russia, Patrushev Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 10 – In language reminiscent of that of Soviet officials, Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, says that the West is seeking to “provoke nationalist and separatist attitudes in Russia” and that Moscow must come up with new laws and other arrangements to counter such destructive actions.

            He suggested that these efforts are set to rise in advance of elections and the holding of the decennial census later this year, events which in his view are precisely the kind of occasions Western governments and foundations believe they can most easily exploit against Russia and the Russian government.

            On the one hand, given Patrushev’s position, his words are no more than the reflection of the principle that if you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But on the other, they both reflect growing nervousness in Moscow about what is happening beyond the ring road and an increasing willingness to use repression to counter it.

            Western governments both directly and through Western-financed NGOs are seeking to “provoke nationalist and separatist attitudes” across the Russian Federation “including in Russian regions,” Patrushev said in an interview with Moscow’s Argumenty i fakty (aif.ru/politics/russia/patrushev_rasskazal_kakie_mery_ispolzuet_zapad_dlya_destabilizacii_rossii).

            He said that these forces were also seeking to “stimulate the activity of the so-called alternative trade union organizations,” an indication that in the wake of the pandemic and economic crisis, the Kremlin is worried about labor unrest and the way in which it could play into ethnic and regionalist movements. 

            Patrushev said the chief “coordinators” of this activity are the US Department of State, AID, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the National Foundation for the Support of Democracy, the Institute for Contemporary Russia, the Soros Foundation and “many others.” 

            What this may lead to is suggested by the recent action of the Russian Procuracy which declared the US-based Jamestown Foundation “an undesirable organization” for its coverage of the Circassian movement over the past decade (genproc.gov.ru/smi/news/genproc/news-1822622/ and jamestown.org/press-releases/press-release-russian-government-declares-jamestown-foundation-undesirable-organization/).

            As Ramazan Alpaut of the IdelReal portal points out, Patrushev’s words are a continuation of Moscow’s approach in recent years and are combined with attacks on activists in the regions and republics of Moscow, actions that have been sharply criticized by Western human rights organizations (idelreal.org/a/30662905.html).

            But what Patrushev is saying suggests that it is time to connect the dots and see these individual Moscow actions as part of a much larger crackdown at home and a much larger offensive against those in other countries who pay attention to and offer support for the basic rights of those who reside within the current borders of the Russian Federation.