Moscow Declares Two Ukraine Wedge Movements inside Russian Borders Extremist

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 25 – Moscow has now declared two movements in Ukrainian regions within the Russian Federation extremist – the Crimson Wedge for an Independent Kuban and My Fatherland of the Green Wedge, a sign that these groups are becoming ever more active and that Moscow’s fears about them are intensifying.

            Within the list of the 55 groups Moscow now has declared extremist (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/07/moscow-labels-55-groups-it-says-are.html), two of the most important are movements in ethnic Ukrainian regions inside the borders of the Russian Federation.

            In January 2023, Nikolay Patrushev, then secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, expressed alarm about Ukrainian activism in the Far East (jamestown.org/program/kremlin-worried-about-ukrainian-wedges-inside-russia/); and other Russian officials and commentator have denounced Ukrainian activism in the Kuban (jamestown.org/program/the-kuban-a-real-wedge-between-russia-and-ukraine/).

            Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, have said that Kyiv will devote more attention to these groups, although leaders of them have complained that up to now, the Ukrainian authorities have only done enough to anger the Russians but not help the wedges (jamestown.org/program/kyiv-raises-stakes-by-expanding-appeals-to-ukrainian-wedges-inside-russia/ and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/06/kyiv-must-devote-more-attention-to.html).

            Dmitry Dorovskikh, a cofounder of the Crimson Wedge movement, says Moscow’s latest move will not cause his group to change its focus or activities (kavkazr.com/a/dvizhenie-za-nezavisimostj-krasnodarskogo-kraya-zapretili-na-territorii-rossii/33051622.html). But it is possible that it will lead Kyiv to do more, elevating the importance of the wedges still further.

            For background on all the Ukrainian “wedges” within the current borders of the Russian Federation, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-real-wedge-issue-ukrainian-regions-in.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2018/08/kyiv-takes-up-cause-of-ukrainian-far.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2014/06/window-on-eurasia-zelenyi-klin-isnt.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-real-wedge-issue-ukrainian-regions-in.html and afterempire.info/2017/09/08/zeleni-klin/.