Russia’s breaking point: Putin pushes restive regions to the brink

Politico ^ | 20 October 2022 | Jamie Dettmer

[Cronos]

“Why are you taking our children? Who attacked who? Isn’t it Russia that attacked Ukraine?” The questions hurled at the police by a clamorous group of indignant women outside a theater in Dagestan’s capital

That was last month the confrontation between infuriated mothers in Dagestan, a mountainous republic within the multi-national Russian Federation, took place shortly after Putin announced a partial mobilization. Elsewhere in the north Caucasian city, standoffs between protesters and baton-wielding police were fiercer with jostling and heavy-handed arrests, according to geo-located posted videos.

Some other ethnic minority parts of the Russian Federation, including its 22 ethnic republics, as well as other far-flung territories, or krais, even majority ethnic Russian ones, have seen anti-mobilization protests in recent weeks — as far afield as the Siberian city of Yakutsk, the capital of the Sakha Republic and Vladivostok in Russia’s far east. ...

How long will people in Russia’s ethnic republics and far-flung territories remain quiet and subdued? Not for much longer

The republics have long chafed under Moscow’s imperial rule — so too territories in the far east and parts of remote northern Russia. The seeds of potential rebellion, especially in the North Caucasus, the Sakha Republic and the Middle Volga, are being sown, he thinks. Increasing economic distress and impoverishment, the exploitation of natural resources only for the benefit of Moscow, the failure to drive development and investment, a reckless attitude to pollution and environmental degradation, and governance swinging from repression to negligence are all stoking simmering grievance.

...In 1990, fourteen of the 22 republics of the Russian Federation declared themselves sovereign and when a Federation Treaty was being negotiated the heads of several republics, including Tatarstan, demanded the new post-Communist Russian constitution recognize their “state sovereignty” as well as a right to secede from the Russian Federation

[Cronos]

Putin is bad for Russia

[Cronos]

Bashkir nationalists in Russia who won their spurs in successful protests against the exploitation of the Kushtau chalk deposit have announced the formation of an armed resistance movement to oppose what they say is “not our war” by firebombing military centers and the offices of political parties and to pursue state independence for Bashkortostan.

The Bashkirs (Bashkir: Башҡорттар, romanized: Bashqorttar, IPA: [bɑʃqortˈtɑr]; Russian: Башкиры, pronounced [bɐʂˈkʲirɨ]) are a Kipchak Turkic ethnic group, indigenous to Russia. They are concentrated in Bashkortostan, a republic of the Russian Federation and in the broader historical region of Badzhgard, which spans both sides of the Ural Mountains, where Eastern Europe meets North Asia

[Cronos]

[Cronos]

developments within the Russian Federation are eerily similar to those 31 years ago, and again raise the specter of collapse. The West is once again afraid of what might follow a Russian dissolution (remember the country is composed of 83 administrative areas, including 21 republics), and is deeply anxious about the ability of new(ish) nations to make sovereign decisions. Both attitudes are deeply flawed, whatever the leaders of Germany and France may think.

[libh8er]

So many potential new Nato members !

[Cronos]

Of Russia’s 85 political divisions, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan are two of the few that have a unique constitutional arrangement granting them considerable autonomy. Together, they have a population of almost eight million that has increased about 0.4 percent over the last decade.

The republics are home to Russia’s legacy crude oil production producing about 1 million barrels per day, or about 10 percent of Russia’s total. Tatarstan alone has approximately 7.3 billion barrels in reserves, or 30 years of supply at current production rates.

In addition to hydrocarbon production, the two regions are, in comparison to the rest of Russia, diversified economically, having strong manufacturing and agricultural sectors. The regions have access to several river systems as well as railways putting them at the crossroads of trade routes. Together they have a high net export trade balance with exports of $15bn [€14.2bn] and imports of $1.6bn

During the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Tatarstan took steps through referendums and agreements with the Kremlin to achieve full sovereignty.

When Russia acknowledged the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after Russia’s August 2008 invasion of Georgia, Tatarstan declared itself independent and asked the United Nations and Russia for recognition.

Both ignored the request.

[Cronos]

They aren’t geographically likable to current NATO members and they also have to meet anti corruption and democracy standards. That’s why Ukraine was rejected from NATO membership, for the latter reason

[Cronos]

[Nifster]

Ah too bad. Putin’s reign may destroy the federation

[Glad2bnuts]

It sounds an awful lot like American and European media (propaganda) is getting through. NEVER trust the commies, and THEY B US now.

[Glad2bnuts]

I find it interesting that what dissidents are able to do in Russia, they cannot do here. Going against the existing power structure. Yet Americans go along with the “HATE PUTIN” crowd blindly.

[Glad2bnuts]

Working the DS bidding since 2001? Aren’t you about ready for that Sorons or is it Sams pension?

[libh8er]

I know but like the keyword says..one can only dream :)

[tlozo]

I find it interesting that what dissidents are able to do in Russia, they cannot do here

LOL, like protest against the war? Russians are immediately arrested for peacefully protesting.

[Sunsong]

interesting, thanks

[tlozo]

Russia’s breaking point: Putin pushes restive regions to the brink

More Russian woes-Population loss.

‘For First Time in 50 Years,’ Immigration No Longer Compensating for Russia’s Internal Population Decline

Staunton, Oct. 24 – During the first half of this year, the population of Russia “for the first time in half a century” fell not only because of more deaths than births but because more people left the country than entered it, something that reflected the war in Ukraine and has consequences not only for the country as a whole but for many of its regions as well.

During this period, there were 97,000 more departures than arrivals, far too few to compensate for the excess of deaths over births which amounted to 384,000. As a result and in contrast to recent decades, the population fell by almost half a million, Yevgeny Chernyshev of the Nakanune news agency says (nakanune.ru/articles/119735/).

https://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/10/for-first-time-in-50-years-immigration.html

[canuck_conservative]

I find it interesting that what dissidents are able to do in Russia, they cannot do here

I find it interesting what we can do here, that we can't do in Russia ...

like criticize the country's leader without getting assassinated

[Cronos]

You have been working your Democrats masters bidding since 2001? And you joined freerepublic.com in 2014 just after the first Putin invasion of Ukraine.

Interesting Vladimir

[Cronos]

You mean the ability to be put in prison for protesting?

[Reily]

The actual numbers of Russians (Slavs) that make up Russia is not as large as you think. You get past the Urals those are Central Asian people. Who probably have little interest in the quarrels of t4he Slavs.