Politics
Russia Would Be Better Off Without Non-Russian Areas
Reading Time: 5 minutesIn recent statements, some of which eerily recall writer Valentin Rasputin’s 1989 proposal that Russia should leave the Soviet Union, some Russian nationalists are now arguing that their nation both as a people and a state would be far better off if it were to jettison the North Caucasus and possibly other non-Russian regions as well.
By Paul Goble
In recent statements, some of which eerily recall writer Valentin Rasputin’s 1989 proposal that Russia should leave the Soviet Union, some Russian nationalists are now arguing that their nation both as a people and a state would be far better off if it were to jettison the North Caucasus and possibly other non-Russian regions as well.
Such ideas are not entirely new – indeed, their authors have sometimes been classified by scholars as “little Russia” nationalists – and they are certainly not widespread, with most ethnic Russians still committed to the defense of the borders of their country without much regard to the costs involved for themselves or those living in those regions.
But the appearance of such arguments now, ones that in the words of one commentator appear to reflect “the general tiredness and entropy of the Russian nation and its hatred toward a self-satisfied government monster,” are intriguing as an indication of the first stages of a possible tectonic shift in Russian views much like the one of 20 years ago.
The first of the three expressing such views was the radical poet Alina Vitukhnovskaya who told a discussion group of the United Civic Front (OGF) that she begins from the proposition that “having ceased to exist historically, Russia has nonetheless remained in its former borders,” something she suggested has given rise to many of the nation’s problems.
She argued, according to a report posted on Kasparov.ru today, that “the Russian state is degrading and falling apart and soon it will not exist in its current form.” There won’t be a revolution, even though the “Gorbachev-Yeltsin project” had failed. And that change will come as a result of invasion, “technogenic catastrophe, or “fratricidal clashes.”
Not surprisingly, Vitukhnovskaya’s prediction was immediately criticized. Sergey Davidis of Russian Solidarity said that here views represented “a nihilistic tendency which expresses the general tiredness and entropy of the Russian nation and its hatred to a self-satisfied state monster” (www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=4A4B344864F00).
And he continued that her program consisted of advocating “’the amputation’ of Chechnya and a few other ‘low-quality’ regions, giving the remain complete freedom of self-determination, ending all talk about ‘territorial integrity’ and ‘Russian statehood’ as such, and rejecting the slightest amount of centralization.”
In that way, Davidis suggested, Vitukhnovskaya was calling for a campaign “to attempt to expel ‘the Asiatic’ and ‘Muscovite’ aspects” from Russian life, qualities that she sees as the chief bearers of ‘the virus of despotism.’” And having done all that, having assumed that things can’t get worse than they are now, he said, she suggests, only that “we shall see.”
The second of the three people pushing the idea that Russia and Russians would benefit from letting some the non-Russian regions of the country depart was Mikhail Dzyubenko, a philologist who is also an OGF activist. Speaking to the same group, he said that Russia “does not still exist” and that it is necessary to “destroy the traditional Russian state mythology.”
Arguing that the idea that all residents of the Russian Federation could form a supra-ethnic Russian nation, Dzyubenko said that this was as absurd as suggesting that “the French together will the Algerians could be a political nation.” And he insisted that the various nations must have the right to decide their own fate.
“How can a ‘federation’ exist where the subjects do not agree among themselves but only with a certain abstract ‘federal center’” as is the case in the Russian Federation today, he asked rhetorically. And challenged to say what the Russian nation should do when it formed a genuine federation with “’problem’” North Caucasus republics, his answer was simple.
“Don’t take them in,” he said. In the recreation of the Federation, [simply] don’t invite them as members. As far as Bashkortostan and Tatarstan are concerned, where the titular nationalities are outnumbered by Russians, he suggested that the peoples living in those places should have the right to decide what to do.
One participant in this discussion said that however strange these ideas may seem, they could yet come to pass. “Who in the middle of the 1980s could have predicted that the USSR would fall apart? Now it is completely uncertain where the curve of history is leading. [And] it is unknown whether the Russian Federation will exist five or ten years from now.”
The third representative of this trend was Russian blogger Mikhail Pozharsky, who offered his vision of “Russia Without the Caucasus” on the Prague Watchdog site on June 12, an article that was posted on a Russian portal today, in the wake of the assassination attempt against Ingush President Yukus-Bek Yevkurov (kontury.info/publ/57-1-0-132ингушетия).
In a 3300-word essay, Pozharsky argued that “the North Caucasus the most problem-filled region in contemporary Russia” and that Russia would be better off, something the Russian government itself would recognize if it worked “not in the interests of state corporations and a limited circle of well-known people but in the interests of the Russian nation itself.”
Saying that he was referring to the following republics – Daghestan, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, and Ingushetia – Pozharsky says history shows they will never live peacefully with Russians in one country, will always require large subventions from the center, and will offer little of value if kept inside Russia’s borders.
The leaders of both the Russian Empire and the USSR understood that they could not integrate these areas but only subjugate them “by harsh but effective methods” in order to control access to the republics and countries to the south. But Pozharsky continued, the current Russian government does not appear to understand that at all.
On the one hand, Moscow has now declared its war there a “counter-terrorist operation,” thus “putting Russian soldiers in a situation when they are de facto fighting against the entire Chechen people but de jure against terrorists whom they are required somehow to distinguish from ‘peaceful citizens.’”
And on the other, the Russian government has given power to the Kadyrovs and others, something the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union never did, ruling the region with generals “appointed from Petersburg” in the first case and putting ethnic Russians in real charge of the situation on the ground.
“The transfer of the North Caucasus entirely into the hands of indigenous local clans,” Pozharsky said, “is a completely Putinist innovation” which none of his predecessors would have trusted to work. And post-Soviet Moscow has allowed the uninterrupted flow of North Caucasians into Russian cities, something that increasingly troubles many.
Continuing in this way, he argues, will be possible only “at the price of great human and material losses.” That may be “profitable” for those who like the local leaders get money from the budget or for Rosneft and Gazprom. And it will certainly be “profitable for the Caucasus clans.” But it won’t be for the Russian people and for Russia.
The only means for solving the Caucasus problem “once and for all,” Pozharsky argued, is to “separate the republics of the North Caucasus,” fortify the borders, introduce a strict visa regime, deport North Caucasians now in Russian cities, and help “the few Russians” remaining in the North Caucasus to come back to Russia proper.
Pozharsky acknowledged that not all Russian nationalists agree with him, but he suggested that this idea could prove more popular than many think, noting that polls have shown that majorities of Russians are prepared to cut their country’s losses and do without the “benefits” the current Moscow leadership keeps telling them the North Caucasus brings.
A new football club has earned a leading place in the UEFA Champions League groups and starred in the headlines of worldwide football news yesterday. The Football Club Sheriff Tiraspol claimed a win with the score 2-1 against Real Madrid on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. That made Sheriff Tiraspol the leader in Group D of the Champions League, including the football club in the groups of the most important European interclub competition for the first time ever.
International media outlets called it a miracle, a shock and a historic event, while strongly emphasizing the origin of the team and the existing political conflict between the two banks of the Dniester. “Football club from a pro-Russian separatist enclave in Moldova pulls off one of the greatest upsets in Champions League history,” claimed the news portals. “Sheriff crushed Real!” they said.
Moldovans made a big fuss out of it on social media, splitting into two groups: those who praised the team and the Republic of Moldova for making history and those who declared that the football club and their merits belong to Transnistria – a problematic breakaway region that claims to be a separate country.
Both groups are right and not right at the same time, as there is a bunch of ethical, political, social and practical matters that need to be considered.
Is it Moldova?
First of all, every Moldovan either from the right or left bank of Dniester (Transnistria) is free to identify himself with this achievement or not to do so, said Vitalie Spranceana, a sociologist, blogger, journalist and urban activist. According to him, boycotting the football club for being a separatist team is wrong.
At the same time, “it’s an illusion to think that territory matters when it comes to football clubs,” Spranceana claimed. “Big teams, the ones included in the Champions League, have long lost their connection both with the countries in which they operate, and with the cities in which they appeared and to which they linked their history. […] In the age of globalized commercial football, teams, including the so-called local ones, are nothing more than global traveling commercial circuses, incidentally linked to cities, but more closely linked to all sorts of dirty, semi-dirty and cleaner cash flows.”
What is more important in this case is the consistency, not so much of citizens, as of politicians from the government who have “no right to celebrate the success of separatism,” as they represent “the national interests, not the personal or collective pleasures of certain segments of the population,” believes the political expert Dionis Cenusa. The victory of FC Sheriff encourages Transnistrian separatism, which receives validation now, he also stated.
“I don’t know how it happens that the “proud Moldovans who chose democracy”, in their enthusiasm for Sheriff Tiraspol’s victory over Real Madrid, forget the need for total and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria!” declared the journalist Vitalie Ciobanu.
Nowadays, FC Sheriff Tiraspol has no other choice than to represent Moldova internationally. For many years, the team used the Moldovan Football Federation in order to be able to participate in championships, including international ones. That is because the region remains unrecognised by the international community. However, the club’s victory is presented as that of Transnistria within the region, without any reference to the Republic of Moldova, its separatist character being applied in this case especially.
Is it a victory?
In fact, FC Sheriff Tiraspol joining the Champions League is a huge image breakthrough for the Transnistrian region, as the journalist Madalin Necsutu claimed. It is the success of the Tiraspol Club oligarchic patrons. From the practical point of view, FC Sheriff Tiraspol is a sports entity that serves its own interests and the interests of its owners, being dependent on the money invested by Tiraspol (but not only) oligarchs.
Here comes the real dilemma: the Transnistrian team, which is generously funded by money received from corruption schemes and money laundering, is waging an unequal fight with the rest of the Moldovan football clubs, the journalist also declared. The Tiraspol team is about to raise 15.6 million euro for reaching the Champions League groups and the amounts increase depending on their future performance. According to Necsutu, these money will go directly on the account of the club, not to the Moldovan Football Federation, creating an even bigger gab between FC Sheriff and other football clubs from Moldova who have much more modest financial possibilities.
“I do not see anything useful for Moldovan football, not a single Moldovan player is part of FC Sheriff Tiraspol. I do not see anything beneficial for the Moldovan Football Federation or any national team.”
Is it only about football?
FC Sheriff Tiraspol, with a total estimated value of 12.8 million euros, is controlled by Victor Gusan and Ilya Kazmala, being part of Sheriff Holding – a company that controls the trade of wholesale, retail food, fuels and medicine by having monopolies on these markets in Transnistria. The holding carries out car trading activities, but also operates in the field of construction and real estate. Gusan’s people also hold all of the main leadership offices in the breakaway region, from Parliament to the Prime Minister’s seat or the Presidency.
The football club is supported by a holding alleged of smuggling, corruption, money laundering and organised crime. Moldovan media outlets published investigations about the signals regarding the Sheriff’s holding involvement in the vote mobilization and remuneration of citizens on the left bank of the Dniester who participated in the snap parliamentary elections this summer and who were eager to vote for the pro-Russian socialist-communist bloc.
Considering the above, there is a great probability that the Republic of Moldova will still be represented by a football club that is not identified as being Moldovan, being funded from obscure money, growing in power and promoting the Transnistrian conflict in the future as well.
Photo: unknown
Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu, pay an official visit to Brussels, between September 27-28, being invited by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles.
Today, Prime Minister had a meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The Moldovan PM thanked the senior European official for the support of the institution in strengthening democratic processes, reforming the judiciary and state institutions, economic recovery and job creation, as well as increasing citizens’ welfare. Natalia Gavrilita expressed her confidence that the current visit laid the foundations for boosting relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, so that, in the next period, it would be possible to advance high-level dialogues on security, justice and energy. Officials also exchanged views on priorities for the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in December.
“The EU is open to continue to support the Republic of Moldova and the ambitious reform agenda it proposes. Moldova is an important and priority partner for us,” said Charles Michel.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita also met with Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, expressing her gratitude for the support received through the OMNIBUS macro-financial assistance program. The two officials discussed the need to advance the recovery of money from bank fraud, to strengthen sustainable mechanisms for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova, and to standardize the customs and taxes as one of the main conditions for deepening cooperation with the EU in this field.
Additionally, Prime Minister spoke about the importance of the Eastern Partnership and the Deep Free Trade Agreement, noting that the Government’s policies are aimed at developing an economic model aligned with the European economic model, focused on digitalization, energy efficiency and the green economy.
A common press release of the Moldovan Prime Minister with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles, took place today, where the agenda of Moldova’s reforms and the main priorities to focus on in the coming months were presented: judiciary reform; fighting COVID-19 pandemic; promoting economic recovery and conditions for growth and job creation; strengthening state institutions and resilience of the country.
“I am here to relaunch the dialogue between my country and the European Union. Our partnership is strong, but I believe there is room for even deeper cooperation and stronger political, economic and sectoral ties. I am convinced that this partnership is the key to the prosperity of our country and I hope that we will continue to strengthen cooperation.”
The Moldovan delegation met Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice. Tomorrow, there are scheduled common meetings with Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport and Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy.
Prime Minister will also attend a public event, along with Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.
Photo: gov.md
Politics
Promo-LEX about Maia Sandu’s UN speech: The president must insist on appointing a rapporteur to monitor the situation of human rights in Transnistria
The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, pays an official visit to New York, USA, between September 21-22. There, she participates in the work of the United Nations General Assembly. According to a press release of the President’s Office, the official will deliver a speech at the tribune of the United Nations.
In this context, the Promo-LEX Association suggested the president to request the appointment of a special rapporteur in order to monitor the situation of human rights in the Transnistrian region. According to Promo-LEX, the responsibility for human rights violations in the Transnistrian region arises as a result of the Russian Federation’s military, economic and political control over the Tiraspol regime.
“We consider it imperative to insist on the observance of the international commitments assumed by the Russian Federation regarding the withdrawal of the armed forces and ammunition from the territory of the country,” the representatives of Promo-LEX stated. They consider the speech before the UN an opportunity “to demand the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Russian Federation with reference to this territory which is in its full control.”
“It is important to remember about the numerous cases of murder, torture, ill-treatment, forced enlistment in illegal military structures, the application of pseudo-justice in the Transnistrian region, all carried out under the tacit agreement of the Russian Federation. These findings stem from dozens of rulings and decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in the region.”
The association representatives expressed their hope that the president of the country would give priority to issues related to the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region and would call on relevant international actors to contribute to guaranteeing fundamental human rights and freedoms throughout Moldova.
They asked Maia Sandu to insist on the observance of the obligation to evacuate the ammunition and the military units of the Russian Federation from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to publicly support the need for the Russian Federation to implement the ECtHR rulings on human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, and to request the appointment of an UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.
**
The Promo-LEX Association concluded that 14 out of 25 actions planned within the National Action Plan for the years 2018–2022 concerning respecting human rights in Transnistria were not carried out by the responsible authorities.
The association expressed its concern and mentioned that there are a large number of delays in the planned results. “There is a lack of communication and coordination between the designated institutions, which do not yet have a common vision of interaction for the implementation of the plan.”
Promo-LEX requested the Government of the Republic of Moldova to re-assess the reported activities and to take urgent measures, “which would exclude superficial implementation of future activities and increase the level of accountability of the authorities.”
Photo: peacekeeping.un.org
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