Kremlin’s Ban on Open Discussion of Federalism Leading to Radicalization of Ethnic and Regional Movements, Pylayeva Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Feb. 16 – Lana Pylayeva, a Komi activist who is a member of the platform at PACE for dialogue with Russian democratic forces, argues that the Kremlin’s ban on open and honest discussion of federalism is unintentionally leading to the radicalization of ethnic and regional groups in the Russian Federation.

            If the Russian authorities permitted such discussions, she says, there would be a far greater chance that the various groups could build bridges among all groups rather than as now each retiring to their own regional or ethnic group (idelreal.org/a/demontazh-moskvotsentrizma-chlen-platformy-pase-lana-pylaeva-o-tom-zachem-rossii-razgovor-o-dekolonizatsii/33675197.html).

            And while the history of these issues means that any opening of discussions will be difficult and require a long time to produce results on which many if not most groups can agree, the failure of the Putin regime to allow such discussions, a continuation of Soviet practice, makes disagreement and fissiparousness more likely. 

            Everyone, ethnic Russian and non-Russian and Muscovite and regionalist, must recognize that “Russia is after all an empire; and the policy which it conducts in relation to all regions and in particular to representatives of indigenous peoples is a colonial policy,” Pylayeva says. 

            These problems are exacerbated, she continues, because “now, a large part of the information which circulates both in Russian opposition and foreign media is most often information which is taken from federal sources,” that is, “it is information which focuses on what is happening in Moscow” and is inevitably “Moscow-centric.”

            All that helps the Kremlin block discussions about federalism and how Russia might be transformed to better reflect all its residents and not just those within the ring road.