Based on the materials of the roundtable of the Institute for Global Politics “Russian Authoritarianism as a Threat to Global Security”
“Sometimes I Get the Impression that the Very Nature of any Form of the Russian State Is Suicidal. It Eventually Leads to the Suicide of That State. And Who Is the Initiator of the Suicide? The Same… Russian People“
I am a representative of the Ingush Independence Committee, and I am the elected Secretary General of the organization NESA – North Eurasian Solidarity Alliance. This is an organization that includes four non-Russian peoples – Buryats, Yakuts, Kalmyks and the Ingush. We united to achieve independence from Russia. What brought us to this point? As if touching on the topic of this conference, we are probably the party most interested in global independence from Russian militarism. And the way to this global security, first of all, lies through the truth, which we must tell at all times. And only the truth that surrounds us can lead us to some solutions to the problems we face. And first of all, we must learn two things: to tell the truth and to listen to the truth that the Kremlin tells us. And the Kremlin, in principle, never lies about its plans or its strategy.
Putin once said that Russia has no borders. In fact, Russia does not have the borders. Russia was given a chance, another chance in 1991… No one attacked Russia, there were no occupying forces on its territory. But what did democratic Russia, which had worldwide support, do? Five months later, it started a war in Transnistria. Then Russia, out of the 32 years of its independence, did not fight for 2 years, after the defeat in Chechnya. The rest of the time Russia spent in wars: either in Chechnya, or with the Ingush, or fomenting a civil war in Tajikistan, as Colonel Kvachkov is now talking about.
And a separate story with Georgia, where they incited separatism. And Shoigu was the person responsible for supplying weapons to volunteers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
And what do we see? We see that the two previous collapses of the Russian state, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, made the world a better place. Because after the collapse of the Russian Empire, we got independent Baltic States, Poland, Finland, etc. This, of course, weakened the capabilities of the future tyrant Stalin, who, of course, tried to return everything later.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we are probably at the best moment in history when Russia is now unable to mobilize millions, tens of millions of Central Asians from former Soviet republics. Imagine how the Ukrainian Army would feel today and whether the Ukrainian Army would have enough ammunition to stop the living waves of Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, etc. We, the non-Russian peoples, have absolutely no interest in any wars. We have no expansionist ideas or thoughts. We absolutely support the Russian people in their desire to establish democracy, autocracy, monarchy, whatever, but “at home”. Let them do it without us.
It is on this basis that all political forces and parties of the Buryat, Yakut, and Kalmyk peoples held congresses, created independence committees and other organizations that declared independence from Russia and issued decrees on the creation of their own armed forces. That is, we are now at a point where we have realized that there is no way back. Do we want to play any more experiments with the Russians, offering to try to make some kind of Yeltsin again? No, we don’t want to create such things anymore. If someone has such a desire, you can create him, but without our participation. The fact is that Russia is now using us, non-Russians, as cannon fodder.
Moreover, let’s just say that some of those people who claim to be the Russian opposition are now trying, rightly or wrongly, to claim that Kadyrov’s men, Buryats, Yakuts are to blame for all the war crimes and events taking place in Ukraine! Anyone but the Russians… In fact, we should all realize that, judging by the fact that the war has been going on for four years, there are no people in Russia who are against it. Someone even cited statistics here that in Germany during World War II, 5 times more people were convicted of opposing the war than were convicted in Russia.
I recently visited the Vovchansk direction. The Russians have no shortage of infantry there. The previous speaker spoke on the economic aspects of this war. So, we, non-Russians, see these economic aspects a little differently. We see that it is the Russian infantry that finishes off its wounded, does not evacuate them anywhere. When I started to look into this issue, it turned out that this is… a significant saving for the Russian budget. That is, such a person is recognized as missing, and therefore, there is no need to pay compensation or pensions for him or her! Nothing!
We want to say that we are just humanly tired of Russians. Because we are completely different. We are mentally different, we are culturally different, we have nothing against them living in our republics, etc. But we don’t want any Russian rule. This is true. They tried to impose this governance during the tsarist era, during the communist era. And now Putinism is trying to impose it.
Sometimes I get the impression that the very nature of any form of the Russian state is suicidal. It ultimately leads to the suicide of the same state. And who is the initiator of the suicide? The same… Russian people. Because non-Russians have no such opportunity to exert any influence. Russians are the ones who resolve this issue. And all attempts by Mr. Trump, his comrades from the United States, or anyone else to save Russia are, of course, fruitless and doomed. Because this does not depend on them. And I do not believe that it is all about Putin, that if he dies or some Putin elites appear, everything will change. Nothing will change! The Russian people wanted Putin, and they got him.
Today, everyone is talking about the war in Ukraine as a terrible tragedy. My God, what happened? Excuse me, but what about the war in Georgia, what about the war in Chechnya, what about the war in Tajikistan? I mean, let’s be honest, this war has entered an active phase precisely because Russia realized that the old ways that Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov wrote about (let’s make a hybrid war and win everything), will not work.
Since 2014, I have been in the Donbas as part of the OSCE mission and saw it all with my own eyes. It was then that they realized that that was not working and came to the decision: yes, something had to be done. Of course, they had their own calculations, and they turned out to be wrong, thank God. But if the world supports the desire of all non-Russian peoples to separate from Russia in order to live on their historical territories, there will be no more war. Because Russia will not be physically able to fight. Just as today Russia does not have the capabilities and resources that the Soviet Union had, so Russia will not be able to continue these wars in the future.
And from the so-called good Russians, the Russian opposition, we often hear: okay, let’s hold referendums. After all, we did not become part of Russia by referendum, so why should we leave it by referendum? We do not understand. Moreover, good Russians and the Russian opposition put into the word “referendum” what they understand perfectly well. What they initially pursued, when they occupied these territories, was a policy of population replacement, a policy of extermination of the local population. And today, in Buryatia or Yakutia, in many other regions, the percentage of the Russian population is such that holding a referendum is doomed to failure in advance. If the Baltic States were to hold a referendum, it’s still a question of who would win, because the percentage there was also so high that it would be doubtful.
Therefore, I believe that if we want security in the future, if we want a peaceful life for Europe, for non-Russians and for Russians themselves, then, eventually, we need to resolve the issue of the border of the Russian state. To put it mildly, against the background of what we have, this would make Russia small again. That’s all. And all problems would disappear without Dagestanis, Chechens, Yakuts, Buryats, and so on, and without their territories. And most importantly, without their resources, which today Russia ruthlessly sucks out, leaving nothing for the locals. The richer the region, the poorer the region becomes. The more oil, diamonds, and gas it has in its depths, the more miserable and poorer the life there is. When you talk about this in the West, people look at you and don’t understand why, and this is the main problem: The West does not understand the processes that are taking place inside Russia. Trips to Moscow, walking around St. Petersburg on white nights, do not give a Westerner any idea of what is really going on in Russia. And if today Russia has no shortage of people willing to fight, is this evidence that the same people who are going to Ukraine to fight today will be massively in favor of democracy tomorrow? No!
Igor Ivanovich Strelkov will most likely become the next president of Russia if we rely on the opinion of the Russian people.
Magomed TORIJEV
Secretary General of NESA,
representative of the Ingush Independence Committee
