Anti-Putin Forces in Belgorod Must Drop Moscow-Centric Views and Adopt Regionalist Ones to Be Most Effective, Shtepa Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 5 – The anti-Putin forces now fighting in Belgorod say in various social media that they are there to create a renewed “united Russian nation state,” but “if the participants of these raids want any real changes, they should become regionalists” and seek to express the interests of the various Russian oblasts and republics, Vadim Shtepa says.

            The editor of the Tallinn-based Region.Expert portal says that unless they break from the centralist mindset infecting both Putin and the opposition, “any ‘new Russia’ will become a remake of the former empire” (epl.delfi.ee/artikkel/120197534/vadim-stepa-belgorodi-rundajad-on-teinud-kohalike-huve-eirates-suure-vea in Estonian; region.expert/centralism/ in Russian).

            Not only will a shift from a Moscow-centric approach to a regionalist one allow the anti-Putin forces to tap into the feelings of the people of Belgorod, Shtepa argues; that will open the way for them to attract to their banners ever more people in ever more oblasts, krays, and republics of the absurdly misnamed “Russian Federation.”

            Belgorod is a territory with 1.5 million people; but because of Putin’s repressive approach, it has no political parties of its own, no free elections, and  a governor imposed on it by Putin. Moreover, Shtepa points out, “most of the taxes collected from the enterprises of the region go to Moscow.”

            “In reality,” he says, Belgorod is just “one of Moscow’s many colonies.” Speaking of the need to overcome that is the best way to win support there and elsewhere. If the Russian Volunteer Corps and Freedom of Russia Legion adopted that approach, “the results of their raids could become much more effective.”

            Up to now, the regionalist writer says, there haven’t been any reports of the insurgents linking up with the local population; and this in turn likely reflects the fact that people there do not view those taking part in these raids as “’their liberators.’” With a change in message, that could change as well as the people of Belgorod have everything to gain from that and little to lose.

            This does not mean that the insurgents should be promoting secession but rather true federalism. Some federal subjects will want to secede but many will want to have a new relationship with Moscow. Although Shtepa does not address this point here, he has made it clear elsewhere that it is important to keep that distinction in mind as well.