The war in Ukraine stirred up all supporters of Chechnya’s independence, Saikhan Muzayev, a spokesman for the European-based Ichkerian movement United Forces, said: “People realized that this was a great opportunity both to weaken Russia itself and to gain independence. Against the backdrop of these events, we considered it necessary to hold a congress and unite in a national liberation movement.”
Before the start of the war in Ukraine, a small number of activists dealt with the issues of regaining a lost identity
Muzaev says they want much the same as the Ichkerian movement in the 1990s, namely building an independent state, but it is important to become “part of the global world community,” he said.
“The goal is quite feasible if we work “correctly” in the right direction. And not only the Chechens will succeed, but all the peoples of Russia, if they want it,” the interlocutor is sure.
The Ingush Independence Committee also emerged after the start of the war in Ukraine. We are striving for complete independence and building a state free from external influence, which is based on our traditions and Islamic principles, says Ruslan Youloy, CIN spokesman. “No people wants to live in their own country as subjugated natives,” he continues.
The Committee’s decision to proclaim a declaration of independence is connected not only with the war in Ukraine, but also with the previous experience of “being under the occupation of Russia,” said Ahmad Ozdo, a spokesman for the organization.
Before the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine, a really small number of activists were engaged in the issues of regaining a lost identity and decolonization, notes Davur Dordzhiev, a member of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People and the League of Free Nations: “My colleagues and I were terrible outcasts, and now we are in the mainstream.”
Now in the national republics they are striving to restore and study their native languages, human rights initiatives are uniting and looking towards sovereignty, the interlocutor argues. He notes the attempts of the regions to distance themselves from the federal center and rethink their existence within the borders of Russia and in the world. Dordzhiev calls Russia’s attitude towards national minorities “ethnocide” ( the policy of destroying national identity, self-awareness of the people. – Approx. ed. ).
“The Russian Federation will most likely lose the war in Ukraine, and this will mean a new gathering point for the statehood of national regions, including the Caucasus,” the activist explains.
Nutrient medium
A large part of Russia, including national regions, is subject to the Kremlin’s imperial propaganda, believes Vadim Sidorov, a doctoral student in ethnology at Charles University (Prague) and one of the speakers of the Forum of Free Peoples of Post-Russia: “Things are happening that could not have been imagined 20 years ago, when part of the Caucasians, Tatars or Bashkirs take to the streets, chanting “we are Russians.” This is the result of Putin’s policy.”
On the territory of Russia it is now impossible to speak openly about decolonization and imperial sentiments of the center
But there is another part of society, it has an ethno-national self-consciousness and remembers its roots, the expert calls it a “nutrient medium” for the development of independence sentiments. Among the regions of Russia, the Caucasus has a greater potential for decolonization, and in a radical sense, the source notes. The Eastern Caucasus has more chances for independence than the Western one, he is sure, and among the republics of the Eastern Caucasus he singles out Chechnya.
“Chechen society is somehow consolidated. In addition to internal mono-ethnicity, the population of Chechnya has a fresh experience of trying to acquire their own statehood,” Sidorov notes. “In the republics of the Western Caucasus, the situation is more complicated, because there is a large part of the Russian-speaking population, although its share is falling. In Dagestan, the Slavic population has practically disappeared, but the situation is difficult within the autochthonous peoples.”
Now most of the decolonization projects with good potential are in exile, it is very difficult to work on the “land”: “The Ingush Independence Committee, Ichkerian projects, the government of independent Tatarstan or the Bashkir National Political Center – they all form the relevant projects and promote them in exile,” the expert explains.
In his opinion, on the territory of Russia there is an opportunity to engage in projects to “preserve the national local environment” and protect the interests of the population: “There are people who work there with this: imams, human rights activists. And they, of course, are in vulnerable positions.”
Local support
It is difficult to say how much support new decolonization projects enjoy on the ground due to the lack of field research on this topic, the risk of criminal prosecution and pressure from intelligence agencies, Sidorov believes. The latter, according to him, even force people to publicly express their disagreement with the ideas of supporters of independence.
In Ingushetia, there are people who oppose the idea of independence, notes Ruslana Iouloy: “But most often these are those who are already in power structures or deceived by propaganda.
There is support from within, but given what is happening in Chechnya, no one will talk about it openly, Saikhan Muzaev is sure: “These are people who strive for independence, want to create a separate state and join the world community.”
The war exposed the problems
Russia has been pursuing a colonial policy towards its peoples for many years, but the war in Ukraine has only now exposed this problem to the world community, Vadim Sidorov believes. The similarity in Moscow’s policy towards the Caucasus and Ukraine is noted by Valery Dzutsati, an expert on the North Caucasus at the Jamestown Foundation (Washington).
“Regarding Ukrainians, Russians argue that the Ukrainian language either does not exist, or it cannot be compared with the Russian language in terms of its level of development. With regard to the Caucasian languages, the Russian intelligentsia and the state also use similar terminology. In their opinion, Caucasians should forget their backward languages and culture as soon as possible in order to join the great Russian culture. Moreover, both in the Caucasus and in Ukraine, many people agreed with this opinion, at least until recently,” – explains the interlocutor.
Prospects for decolonization and post-Russia: representatives of the peoples of the Caucasus at the forum in the European Parliament
One can talk about a single consolidated position of the West on the issue of supporting Ukraine and restoring its territorial integrity, but when it comes to the decolonization of Russia, there is no such consensus, Vadym Sidorov believes: “This discourse has now become legalized and has become one of the mainstream.”
Both the Russian authorities and the Russian opposition often take openly nationalist positions.
Platforms have appeared, including Western ones, where these problems are discussed, for example, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the interlocutor continues. At the same time, one must be aware that within this discourse there are different approaches to solving the problems of colonized peoples: from supporters of broader federalization to adherents of independence.
From federalization to independence
As soon as they realize in the Caucasus that they live de facto in the colonies of Russia, the decolonization process will be launched for real, Valery Dzutsati is sure: “There may be such a development scenario when the Russians radically revise regional policy, contribute to the real federalization of Russia and the recognition of the rights of minorities. This scenario seems to me very unlikely, because the economic and political weight of the Russian regions many times exceeds the weight of the non-Russian regions of Russia. Moreover, both the Russian authorities and the Russian opposition often adhere to openly nationalist positions. In such conditions, there is nowhere to take a force that would carry out federalization.
In the Oirat-Kalmyk society, a discourse has already begun on the topic of determining the future fate of the people, while there is a clear bias towards sovereignty, Davur Dordzhiev notes: states”.
The federal center is interested in the weak and dependent Caucasus: that is why the current state of affairs is a dead end, Valery Dzutsati is sure. Moscow does not want the economies of the republics to be too strong, because this could lead to a decrease in their dependence on it and an increase in separatism: “On the other hand, it is not entirely clear how long such a scheme can exist when most of the budgets in the North Caucasus are filled by Moscow.”
The mood in society has undergone a serious evolution over the past 10 years, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine, and has shifted from the agenda of federalism and confederalism to independence, Vadym Sidorov is sure. If events suddenly happen when the supporters of the “Russian world” in the national republics are left to the mercy of fate by the imperial center, most likely they will be washed away by history rather quickly, he suggests. “Nevertheless, they exist in some regions, and only in practice it will be possible to see where there is more potential for sentiments and ideas: centripetal pro-imperial or anti-imperial centrifugal.”
- The outcome of the summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, held in late June – early July in Canada, was the Vancouver Declaration and a number of resolutions. One of them attracted particular attention of representatives of indigenous peoples, national and regional movements of the Russian Federation: it says that Russia is a colonial empire. The resolution “On clarifying the consequences of the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in the field of following the principles of the OSCE” contains paragraph number 14, in which the signatories of the document condemn Russia’s actions against a number of other post-Soviet states, as well as ethnic minorities on their own territory, and call the Kremlin’s policy colonial.
- Forums of free peoples of Russia were held in Warsaw , Prague , Helsingborg and Gdansk . One of them presented a project of “post-Putin” states. Also in Kiev, a founding forum of peoples “oppressed by the Kremlin regime” was held – it was organized by representatives of Ichkeria (which the Verkhovna Rada later recognized as temporarily occupied by Russia) and other Caucasian diasporas.
- On January 7, 2023, a congress of supporters of independent Ingushetia was held in Istanbul, at which the creation of the Ingush Independence Committee was announced. According to the representatives of the Committee, the association included independent public and political figures and activists of Ingush nationality. The association of supporters of the independence of Ingushetia was commented by the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksiy Goncharenko, who previously supported the independence of the unrecognized republic of Ichkeria.
Izabella Evloeva
Kavkaz.com
