Drone Attacks Against Tatarstan Undermining Tatars’ Sense of Security and Support for Putin, Aysin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 2 – At least five times since the beginning of April, drones have hit targets in Tatarstan, forcing airports to suspend operations, factories to close, and people to evacuate. That has brought the war in Ukraine far closer to Tatars, deprived them of their sense of security and reduced their support for Putin, Ruslan Aysin says.

            The Tatar commentator who now lives in Turkey says that such attacks, along with increasing repressions in the republic, have had an impact on political attitudes there even though there are no polls to document this trend (idelreal.org/a/chastichnyy-zahod-voyny-v-tatarstan-aysin-o-novoy-realnosti-tatarstana-i-vozmozhnoy-reaktsii-grazhdan-na-nee/32974929.html).

            For the republic’s population, Aysin continues, “it is obvious that Tatarstan has become a target because that is where drone factories and a number of important military-industrial and oil-processing plants are located” and that as a result, Tatarstan “in essence has shifted to a way of life typical of regions on the frontlines.”

            This is beyond doubt having an impact on the psychological state of the Tatars, he says. “It can be assumed that Tatarstan’s residents have lost their sense of security” and have been plunged into collective depression due to the war itself, fears about mobilization, increased repression, a hopeless future, the economic crisis, rampant crime and feelings of hopelessness.”

            “Sooner or later,” Aysin concludes, these will combine to spark “a large-scale crisis in relations between the state and society.” Rallying around the powers only works for a certain time, “but then it begins to crumble,” especially among those most affected. And when that happens, the trust of those below in those above “will be completely lost.”