Regionalist Movements Assume More Prominent Role at 14th Forum of Free States of Post-Russia

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 19 – Representatives of regionalist movements have always had a difficult time when it comes to taking part in émigré meetings of the Russian opposition, even that part of the opposition that is open to cooperation with non-Russian groups committed to the pursuit of independence.
    At the just-completed 14th Forum of Free States of Post-Russia in Vilnius, representatives of regional movements from east of the Urals assumed a much higher profile than they have at earlier sessions (idelreal.org/a/buduschee-nado-gotovit-o-chem-dogovorilis-dekolonizatory-i-soratniki-ponomareva-na-forume-svobodnyh-gosudarstv-post-rossii/33243349.html).
    Their role raises the hope that Russian liberals and non-Russian nationalists may now be willing to cooperate with regionalist groups, some of which also are interested in greater autonomy but others of which are also seeking independence, and thus may form an alliance without which none of these three groups can hope to succeed.
    At the Vilnius meeting, three regionalist leaders spoke: Ivan Kulenko, a blogger from Chelyabinsk who supports the revival of the short-lived Urals Republic of 1993, Stanislav Suslov, vice president of the Committee for the Independent Confederacy of Siberia, and Anna Pryakhina from Tomsk who is a member of the Siberian independence movement.
    Instead of being sidelined as has happened at earlier meetings, the three were given prominent speaking roles and organizers said they and others like them would be welcome participants at future meetings and in a possible “Soviet of Nationalities” which would include both non-Russian and nominally ethnic Russian groups.
    If that proves to be the case, this Vilnius meeting could mark a turning point in the relationship between the liberal, nationalist and regionalist movements, one that would make them a far greater threat to the hyper-centralized authoritarian rule of Putin than any threat each might represent on its own.