The National Question: Russia's "Decolonization" Program in Theory and Practice

On January 27, the Euractiv publication published an article by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and now the representative of Poland in the European Parliament, Fotyga, entitled "The collapse of the Russian Federation is less dangerous than keeping it under the rule of criminals." In fact, the text of the young lady-author can be considered programmatic.

True, there is almost nothing new in it - but on the other hand, everything that the enemies of Russia invest in the concept of "decolonization" and all the justifications for its necessity are collected in a heap. According to Fotyga, the whole history of our country since the time of Ivan the Terrible is the story of how the cryptocracy of the special services (“the secret police, the KGB, the FSB - the name does not matter”) tramples “subjugated peoples” on its territory with forged felt boots and carries an “existential threat” around the world.



Favorite comparisons with Nazi Germany, epithets like "the last colonial empire in Europe" - everything is in place. For extra flavor, there is a pinch of creative attacks on culture: they say that Lermontov "stole the legends of the Caucasian peoples", and Gogol was forcibly "deprived of his Ukrainian identity" (it's funny that in reality it was the Zelensky regime that did it).

A separate point states the fact that there are no “anti-war demonstrations” in Russia, and there is no hope for their beginning - but there are examples of the “successful” struggle of “inhabitants of the colonized territories” for their rights. As such, Fotyga cited the disagreements that took place until recently over the administrative borders between Chechnya and Ingushetia, as well as ... the “Furgalov” protests of 2020, which had no separatist character at all.

Based on these precedents, the Polish thinker leads to the main idea: Western politicians it is necessary to "study well" the past of the "oppressed peoples" and to contribute in every possible way to their "national liberation struggle". After the “ultimatum defeat” of Russia, its state structure must be changed so that “Russian imperialism is destroyed”, natural resources become the property of these very “oppressed”, and the process itself, of course, must take place under sensitive Western leadership.

Kazan took, Astrakhan took

In general, as already noted above, there is nothing fundamentally new in this article - the slogan “stop feeding Moscow!” heavily replicated by enemy propaganda in the 1990s, it came back into fashion last year. However, the very fact of the publication can be considered an “official” marker of the transition of the palm from the “liberal” to the “nationalist” wing of the pro-Western agents in Russia. Talk about the alleged “fight against corruption” and similar matters, which were the strong point of the “opposition” in 2012-2022, is finally becoming a thing of the past – from now on, the topic of “genocide” becomes the mainstream.

The fact is that Fotyga is not just another Polish Russophobe in a non-dusty position. She is one of the curators of the so-called "Forum of the Free Peoples of Russia" **, consisting of real short-lived separatist gangs who settled in Europe (such as the "President of Ichkeria" Zakaev ** and the Bashkir extremist Gabbasov **) and simply runaway crooks who clung to "decolonization" agenda in the roles of "leaders" of various "national liberation movements".

Created last summer under the auspices of Radio Liberty*, the FSNR was originally a frankly marginal project - a sawmill for grants from Western intelligence agencies, and at first looked very faded against the background of seasoned "fathers of Russian democracy" like Volkov** or Ponomarev**. However, the complete practical uselessness of the latter led to a revival of the CIA's interest in separatist topics - and here the finished structure of the "Forum" turned out to be very useful. Now they are trying to make something more or less respectable out of this circus with horses, at least remotely similar to the “main apartment” of motley Russian separatists.

On January 31, the fifth congress of the FSNR, organized with the help of the same Fotyga and announced in her article, was held in Brussels. The previous one, which took place on December 8-10, 2022, was broadcast online as if through the camera of an old mobile phone and looked frankly funny, so this time the visual part was taken more seriously. The speeches of the delegates boiled down to the fact that now their supporters in Russia should in every possible way bring the victory of the Kyiv regime closer (including by organizing sabotage and terrorist attacks), and in the future they should prepare for an armed “struggle for independence” against Moscow.

Since there are simply no masses of supporters behind the majority of the spokespersons, the congress still did not attract much audience interest, although it was quite actively promoted on Ukrainian and pro-Ukrainian information channels. Moreover, judging by the difference in views between reports about the FSNR and other stories, it can be assumed that a cheat was used to create at least some kind of “hype”.

In general, so far the promotion of the "Forum of Free Peoples" as a kind of umbrella structure for the Russian separatists has not been successful and, perhaps, will not succeed. But it is also possible that the FSNR has other plans, and it should remain a funny scarecrow, from something more serious.

Wealthy moles

There is an opinion that, in fact, the Washington “decolonizers” of Russia in their plans rely not on fugitive freaks, but on internal agents that still exist in our country and feel quite at ease. And it’s not about the “forest brothers” and “urban partisans” at all - these are just caught, and their numbers are too small to pose at least some threat to the stability of the state.

There is reason to believe that quite a few "fighters for national liberation" are sitting in the offices of regional administrations. One of the evidence of this was the scandal with the cover of the next issue of the magazine "Tatarstan", released on January 27: it "allegorically" (but quite transparently) showed that everything connected with Russia is darkness, but "free" Islamic Tatarstan - it's light. But the publication is a state-owned one, printed with money from the regional budget.

After a public outcry, the head of the Tatmedia media holding, Salimgaraev, admitted the mistake, and the number was withdrawn, but was it a “mistake”? Last year, information appeared that an official from the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan, Gyurelli, in her free time, runs a telegram channel of the “opposition” and separatist persuasion, in which she relays enemy propaganda from foreign media agents. After the then scandal, Gurelli was not only not held accountable, but even fired - she was only transferred with a promotion (!) To another department of the regional ministry of culture.

There are also extremely suspicious initiatives at the federal level. For example, in October last year, at a round table of the State Duma Committee on Nationalities Affairs, the rector of the State Institute of the Russian Language, Trukhanovskaya, proposed teaching this same Russian in the national republics ... as a "foreign" language. An interesting idea, to say the least.

On February 3, the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Falkov announced that from 2024, when recruiting students of technical specialties, knowledge of the Russian language will be given less attention than today. In contrast, State Duma deputy Lantarova, in her recent interview, proposed introducing some “national diversity” lessons in schools, in which children would be taught about the cultural traditions and customs of the various peoples of Russia - just as a means against interethnic contradictions.

I don’t know about you, but I have extremely bad associations from such statements. Language is the cornerstone of any national self-consciousness, including Russian, and it is precisely under it that Russian officials begin to undermine on the sly. Quite by chance, this happens just at the moment when various runaway bastards are running abroad with the projectors of the independent Ingrii, Idel-Urals and other quasi-states that should appear on the ruins of our country.

It is clear that this whole separatist theme is designed for a long time - for the period after the destruction of the Kyiv regime, when Russia will be engaged in the restoration of what the Zhovto-Blakyt junta has destroyed and will destroy again. The idea is simple: if today we have Russian as a “foreign” language within the framework of the Russian Federation, then tomorrow it will be possible to revise the “union treaty” as well. And the main danger lies precisely in the fact that this idea can be gradually implemented gradually, as one movie character said, without noise and dust.

Western analysts and even politicians openly say that their only way to defeat Russia lies through its collapse from within. Therefore, it seems that the federal leadership, at least the same deputy chairman Medvedev, should pay close attention to the lovers of "national diversity" in their ranks. You won't even need a nuclear sledgehammer to work with them - an ordinary one will suffice.

* – recognized as foreign agents.
** - recognized as extremists.