‘Repressions in Soviet Times Did Not Prevent USSR from Disintegrating,’ Baku Commentator Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 5 – In the course of a discussion of Moscow’s revival of programs directed against the supposed threat posed by Pan-Turkism, Nurani, a Baku commentator, says that no one should forget that “repressions in the times of the USSR did not prevent the Soviet Union from falling apart.”

            They may have delayed it, he suggests, but they could not and did not prevent it. But instead of recognizing that reality, the Kremlin today believes that all its problems are caused by foreign enemies and that repression against those who are angry at Moscow almost exclusively because of its policies can be kept in check by that alone (minval.az/news/124509210).

            Although Nurani does not dwell on this point, his comment is important especially now because Putin clearly has fallen into this trap and thinks that what he is doing will prevent the coming apart of the Russian Federation and that he can avoid responsibility for the repression he is using by blaming foreigners alone.

            That didn’t work in the period leading up to 1991, and it won’t work now.