West Using Governments in Exile to Undermine Russia and Its Allies, FSB Head Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 25 – Aleksandr Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB, says that the West is forming “so-called ‘governments in exile’ aimed at seizing power in the countries of origin in the event of a deterioration in the socio-economic situation and mass unrest,” an indication that Moscow is infuriated by these bodies and takes them more seriously than many might suspect.

            Speaking at a Bishkek meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of CIS Countries, the Russian spy chief said these groups are designed to promote and exploit conditions that can lead to “color revolutions” that the West hopes to use to overthrow existing regimes (ria.ru/20240524/sng-1948043189.html).

            Among the most important of these structures concerning groups within the current borders of the Russian Federation are the émigré Congress of Peoples Deputies for Russians, the exile government of Ichkeria, the government in exile of Tatarstan, and the Ingush Committee on Independence.

            Such structures are typically ignored by the West, but clearly they have gotten under the skin of Moscow which is likely to step up its attacks on them and on the support they have in the groups they represent, a move history suggests will be counter-productive for Moscow (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/03/fsb-focusing-on-exile-tatarstan.html).