'Regionalists' want Russia dismembered and under international control

Proposal submitted by journalist Maksim Kuzakhmetov, in exile in Prague. A consequence of the possible defeat in Ukraine. Like post-Nazi Germany, the country must accept international control for a certain period.  'Moscow-centric' opposition disagree.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Opinions and proposals for a future that envisages the disintegration of the Russian Federation, and the organisation of various ethnic and state structures, continue to spread. Speaking on Idel.Realii was the journalist Maksim Kuzakhmetov (see photo), in exile in Prague, creator of the "Naiznanku" (On the contrary) project, considered to be the main inspiration behind the movement of the "Ingermanlanders", the Scandinavian separatists on Russian territory.

According to Kuzakhmetov, the consequence of the Russian-Ukrainian war will have to be the partition of the empire and the introduction of external administration for a transitional period, to avoid the dangers of revanchism and ultranationalist drift, and to 'guarantee the security of the whole of Europe'.

He makes the comparison with Germany in 1945, and 'it will certainly be a great psychological problem for the Russians, but there should be no violence and unrest, no concentration camps'. Post-Nazi Germany had to accept external control after the capitulation, and in the meantime the Allies were working to ensure democracy, without reducing the country to a colony: 'It can be endured, and everything will be better afterwards'.

Putin himself urged the FSB's internal intelligence services to pursue all those who support separatist and disruptive projects 'inspired by the West'. According to the journalist, 'it is clear that the FSB will try to fabricate false accusations, obtaining confessions through torture, as in Stalin's time'.

In reality, the 'regionalists' do not commit crimes against the law and pose no real threat; 'they do not commit attacks against anyone's property, but seek to realise the constitutional right to decide their own future'. Even in the Soviet Constitution, the right of the republics to self-determination was enshrined.

If one looks at the map of the Russian Federation, the vast majority of federal subjects enjoy a diverse set of rights, from national formation to regional administrative autonomy. For example, the Kaliningrad enclave, the former East Prussia between Poland and Lithuania, is a 'ready-made little European country', Kuzakhmetov insists: 'There is no way to hold it back by force if it wants to secede'.

In truth, not only the state leadership is against the break-up, but also much of the opposition, even the 'liberal' ones of the great exiles like Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Garri Kasparov, or the persecuted ones like Aleksej Naval'nyj's movement.

Kuzakhmetov admits that there is a strong division between the 'Moscow-centric' oppositions, who want to keep the empire within its current borders, and the regionalists. In his opinion, 'this is certainly a serious flaw of the Muscovites, but this is not the time to argue about what should come first, we must shake off the sad reputation of the aggressor who tramples on the blood of his neighbours, we must think about how to be reborn after defeat'.

In the scheme he envisions, the regions will be able to reunite after the period of external administration, if they are allowed to, or allow each one time to organise and then decide, as the Czech Republic and Slovakia have done, for example.

Putin's crimes, according to the separatists, somehow force Europe to forcibly partition Russia at this stage of its history. "It is an empire born 500 years ago, which if it has the strength will be reborn from its ashes, as happened in the time of the tsars and also in Soviet times.

The West, and in particular Europe, 'does not have a single centre, we have seen the countries of Eastern Europe, which were subservient to the Muscovite empire, move from their own security needs'.

Before 1991, even in the West there was a fear of catastrophe in the event of the dissolution of the Soviet empire, some did not even want the reunification of the two Germanies, it was feared that 15 uncontrollable nuclear powers might emerge, and that 'it is better to deal with one madman than with 15 different ones'. The USSR actually dissolved quite peacefully, albeit with various peripheral conflicts, and now 'you have to dispel the Kremlin phobia and everything will be fine', Kuzakhmetov concludes.

• russia
• moscow
• disintegration
• nationalism
• empire
• war
• ukraine
• invasion