After Putin, Russia Must Go Through Something Like America Did after the Revolution, Ponomaryov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 6 – After the Americans defeated Britain in their revolution, their states were part of a confederation from which each was free to leave. Because that system did not solve their problems and no one chose to leave, they then created a federal state which tied them together more firmly, Ilya Ponomaryov observes.

            In the future, Russia will need to go through something similar, the organizer of the recent meeting of the Congress of Peoples Deputies says, although in his view it is likely that some but far from all of the republics and regions now within the borders of Russia will decide to leave (idelreal.org/a/32155601.html).

            If such choices are made democratically, Ponomaryov says, he is all in favor of allowing these republics and regions to leave and opposes any notion that Russians should fight to block them from exiting. But as for himself, he favors keeping as much of the country together as agrees to remain in the hope of building a large and flourishing country.

            As such, he is positioning himself between the liberal imperialists who talk about transforming Russia rather than allowing its disintegration and the regionalist and republic activists who believe that the only way they can be free and democratic is if they are independent of Moscow.

            According to Ponomaryov, both these groups suffer from a problem of unrepresentativeness. The leaders of the liberal imperialists often speak only for themselves, and the regionalist and republic activist often live and work abroad and amount to no more than handful of people.

            He argues that his Congress of Peoples Deputies as it grows in size will reflect a diversity of views on Russia’s future and should not be seen as part of the liberal imperialist project or as backers of regionalist and republic secession. Instead, it includes some who favor one of these options and others who favor the others. That will become clear in time.

            Ponomaryov says he personally backs those in Ukraine who want to recognize the Republic of Chechnya-Ichkeria because its people have fought two wars and have shown their commitment to a government now in exile. At the same time, he opposes extending recognition to other republics and republics because they lack that experience.

            Asked about how soon any of these challenges are likely to come to a head, Ponomaryov says that the war in Ukraine soon “will end with the defeat of Russia, the physical destruction of Putin and, I think he won’t live until his next birthday. That is my prediction.”