Non-Russian Activists Now Focusing on Telling the World Russia is an Empire which Must Be Decolonized, Latypova Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Feb. 25 – Many of the most active groups in Russia since Putin began his expanded war in Ukraine were anti-war organizations in the non-Russian republics from which the Kremlin has drawn a disproportionate number of soldiers to fight and die in that war, Leyla Latypova says.

            But the failure of these groups to force an end to the war combined with repressions at home and the forced emigration of the leaders of these organizations, The Moscow Times who specializes on the non-Russian republics says, has prompted these groups to change their focus (themoscowtimes.com/2026/02/25/russias-exiled-anti-war-movements-are-learning-to-play-the-long-game-a92049).

            While none of them has dropped its opposition to Putin’s war, ever more of them are focusing on cooperating with each other and promoting the view that Russia is an empire and will continue to threaten its own people and the world until it is fully decolonized, another uphill struggle because many in the West assume everything will be fine once Putin leaves.

            Latypova draws this conclusion on her observations of and conversations with the leaders of non-Russian groups in the emigration, including those from Tyva, Sakha, and Buryatia. She notes that some ethnic Russian emigres have also made that shift, but overwhelmingly, Russian émigré groups still focus on the war in Ukraine rather than on the need for decolonization.

            The shift The Moscow Times journalist points to is important for three reasons. First, it is a sign that Putin’s effort to suppress non-Russian groups has backfired because it has made them more nationalistic than they ever were before. Second, it has deepened the divide between these non-Russian groups and their ethnic Russian counterparts, making cooperation more difficult.

            And third – and this is by far the most important – it has become the basis for a new unity among the non-Russian movements and likely among non-Russians themselves who now see their task as the dismantling of the Russian empire rather than just stopping the war and who are working to reach out to governments around the world to deliver that message.