Harry Kasparov calls Ukraine’s victory a condition for the collapse of the imperial project, and the Free Russia Forum in the Strasbourg Declaration directly recognized the right of national republics and peoples to self-determination. We explain where our positions coincide, where they go further, and why this cooperation has lasted for years.
Statement from the press service of the Government of Independent Tatarstan in exile
On 31 August, Harry Kasparov published a column in the Echo titled “The question ‘Are you for Ukraine’s victory or not?’ is an important watershed.”
This text is important to us not because we agree with every word of it. It is important because on a key issue our positions have converged for many years: the Russian imperial project cannot be made safe by cosmetic reforms, and the defeat of aggression against Ukraine is a necessary condition for its dismantling.
That is why the Government of Independent Tatarstan in Exile is working together with Garry Kasparov and his team.
What does Kasparov say?
The column begins with a harsh diagnosis. Kasparov calls Putin’s regime the reincarnation of absolute evil, which has absorbed the worst of everything from Stalinism to fascism, and refuses the usual parallel with Nazi Germany. There, despite the scale of terror, there were huge masses of people who consciously resisted and today paid for it with their freedom and lives.
Hence his assertions that part of the Russian emigration, which, against the backdrop of the bombing of Ukrainian cities, continues to discuss electoral technologies as if it were an ordinary authoritarian regime that is being replaced by a set of correct procedures.
The concept of the “first flight” is a separate one — waiting for the moment when, after Putin’s fall, it will be possible to return to Moscow and start building a new country. The answer is straightforward: first, the regime must collapse and the mass consciousness, thoroughly saturated with war, must change.
But the central thesis is broader:
“Real change in Russia became possible only after severe geopolitical defeats.”
It is defeat, writes Kasparov, that destroys the idea of the right to dictate one’s will to other peoples. Therefore, Ukraine’s victory is not a question of the consequences of one war: it means the collapse of the imperial project. And the very question “are you for Ukraine’s victory or not?” becomes a watershed that shows which side a person stands on.
Our answer to this question is very simple.
Yes. We are for Ukraine’s victory. Without reservations.
This is not a foreign war for Tatarstan
On 30 August, the 36th anniversary of the Declaration of State Sovereignty, the flags of Tatarstan, the Oirat-Kalmyk people, and Buryatia flew side by side over Union Square in New York.
The Ambassador of the Government of Independent Tatarstan in Exile to the United States, Kamil Sukayev, said from the square: Ukraine must be supported with weapons, finances, sanctions, and diplomatic pressure, because it is on the Ukrainian front that the question of the empire’s ability to continue to contain other peoples is being decided.
For us, this is not an abstraction. According to the BBC Russian Service and Mediazone, by 21 August 2026, 9,465 servicemen from Tatarstan had been confirmed dead, the second-highest figure among Russian regions after Bashkortostan. Researchers note that the absolute figures are influenced, in particular, by the active work of local volunteers who collect information about the dead.
But the essence of this does not change: the empire is waging its war with people from our republics.
Therefore, the formula “this is not our war” for national movements is to ignore the obvious. Moscow’s ability to continue the war against Ukraine is directly related to its ability to maintain political, economic, and force control over Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, and others.
Why our positions converge
Back in July 2025, Kasparov formulated his position extremely harshly: the Russian Empire must cease to exist as a political entity, and he called the liberation of the captured territories and the military defeat of Russia a necessary condition for this.
But there has been a change over the past year that means more to us than any single column.
On 20 April 2026, the participants of the Free Russia Forum adopted the “Declaration of the Citizens of New Russia” in Strasbourg. Its goal is formulated as follows: the transformation of imperial Russia into a modern democratic state — or several democratic states. And point eleven says:
“The national republics and peoples that are currently part of the Russian Federation have the right to self-determination.”
This is an important wording, and we are recording it separately.
It means recogniіing that the future of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, the peoples of the North Caucasus, and others should not be determined by the next government in Moscow, even a democratic one. The peoples themselves should decide their fate.
This is where our collaboration with Harry Kimovich and his team comes in. We may come from different political traditions and see the future of the post-imperial space differently, but we agree on four things:
Russia in its current imperial form is dangerous both for neighbouring states and for the peoples within the federation itself.
Ukraine’s victory is necessary to destroy the imperial project.
National republics and peoples have the right to independently determine their political future.
We need to prepare for the end of the empire today, not the day it comes.
Where our position goes next
A coincidence of principles does not mean a coincidence of goals, and we will not pretend that there is one.
For the Russian democratic opposition, the right of nations to self-determination is one of the issues of the future of perestroika. For us, it is the central issue and the subject of all our work.
We are not engaged in the project of “good Russia” and do not set the task of reforming Moscow. Our political goal is an independent democratic Tatarstan. The Declaration of 30 August 1990 proclaimed the state sovereignty of the republic, based on the inalienable right of the Tatar nation and the entire people of Tatarstan to self-determination. We continue this line.
At the same time, recognising the right to self-determination does not mean that someone outside the republic — Kasparov, the Russian opposition, European politicians, or ourselves in exile — has the right to decide in advance for the residents of Tatarstan the details of the organisation of their state. The meaning of the principle is exactly the opposite: the final decision belongs to the people of Tatarstan.
Exile is not a waiting room
Harry Kimovich is certainly right about one thing: it is pointless to sit outside the country waiting for the “first flight.”
Political emigration is justified only when it creates something that cannot be created within an authoritarian state. That is why our government is engaged in international representation, working with other national movements, human rights activities, and building political ties.
Over the past five years, about 350 appeals have been sent on behalf of the government and the Tatar Public Centre in support of the persecuted; according to Prime Minister Rafis Kashapov, about ten people have been excluded from the Interpol database after such appeals.
This is a small part of the work that is needed. But the institutions of the future state cannot be created the day the empire suddenly weakens. By that time, people, connections, representation, documents, a programme, and an understanding of what to do next must be in place.
The watershed also runs through national movements
Kasparov’s question is not only addressed to the Russian opposition. It is also addressed to us.
Our movements also sound simplistic formulas: we are against any war, Ukraine is not our issue, we are only concerned with our republic. But we cannot simultaneously speak out against the Russian Empire and maintain neutrality at a time when this empire is waging the greatest war for the right to control the fate of other peoples.
Let’s be honest and say the opposite: a Ukrainian victory alone would not bring Tatarstan independence. However, a Ukrainian defeat would dramatically strengthen the empire — proving to Moscow that military power works again and that borders, states, and the will of peoples can be changed by violence.
Aid to Ukraine corresponds not only to a moral position, but also to the direct strategic interest of national liberation movements.
The Union does not require the same views
We do not consider it necessary to agree with Harry Kimovich on everything. And even more so, we do not intend to become participants in the internal conflicts of the Russian opposition.
Our criterion for cooperation is different: does the interlocutor recognise Ukraine’s right to defeat the aggressor, does he recognise the imperial nature of the current Russian statehood, and does he recognize the right of peoples and national republics to determine their own future?
On these issues, our positions coincide with Garry Kasparov. Therefore, we have worked and will work together where our goals coincide, and openly talk about where they diverge.
A strong alliance is not built on partners pretending to think alike. It is built on understanding what they are working together for.
What to do now
The Russian Empire will not cease to exist because smarter politicians will one day appear in Moscow. An empire ends when the centre loses the opportunity to determine the fate of others by force.
So, organisations fighting for the freedom of their republics face two tasks at once. The first is to help Ukraine stop the aggression and defeat it. The second is to prepare their own peoples and institutions for the moment when the window of opportunity opens.
No one knows when it will happen. But one thing is certain: freedom rarely gives a warning in advance of its arrival. Either those who are ready for it or others seize the historic chance once again.
To Harry Kasparov’s question, “Are you for Ukraine’s victory or not?”, the Government of Independent Tatarstan in exile has already given its answer.
We are for the victory of Ukraine. For the dismantling of the empire. And the right of Tatarstan to determine its own future.
Press Service of the Government of Independent Tatarstan in Exile
Правительство Независимого Татарстана
