Russian Government’s Failure to Support Villages and Roads Linking Them to Urban Centers is ‘Above All’ an Attack on Country’s Ethnic Minorities, ‘Free Idel-Ural’ Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 5 – The Russian government’s refusal to maintain facilities in villages or to build roads linking these population centers to urban centers is not only destroying the rural way of life in that country but is “above all” an attack on Russia’s ethnic minorities, according to the Free Idel-Ural portal.
    That is because, the portal says, in many republics, non-Russians dominate villages and thus maintain their language and identity there whereas once such people are forced to move to cities dominated by ethnic Russians, they lose both (idel-ural.org/archives/chynovnyky-v-chuvashyy-nazvaly-neeffektyvnym-stroytelstvo-dorog-v-malonaselennye-punkty/).
    Consequently, Putin’s “optimization” campaign is not just about saving money but about destroying non-Russian minorities and forcing their Russianization and ultimate Russification, an attack which must be recognized and opposed, the portal which works to defend non-Russian groups in the Middle Volga says.
    What is striking, the portal continues, is that officials are now openly admitting that they don’t see it as economically efficient to build roads linking villages to urban centers let alone maintain medical and other services in villages. As Chuvashia head Vyacheslav Borisov said recently, “we don’t have enough resources to tackle al this at once.”
    But behind that “economic” argument is a Russification agenda, Free Idel-Ural says; and no one should be deceived into thinking that is not the more important factor not only in Chuvashia but in the Russian Federation as a whole.