AMAC Exclusive – By Ben Solis
An independence movement that has been building inside Russia for decades has been supercharged by the Ukraine war, creating another potentially devastating crisis for Putin.
While more than a dozen former satellite nations broke away from Moscow during the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, other semi-autonomous regions remained under the control of the Kremlin, and have been struggling for freedom ever since. Now, their effort has renewed hope and momentum as the Russian regime appears significantly weakened.
Last week, the representatives of more than a dozen of these captive nations from across Russia’s far east regions, all part of an organization called the Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum, (FNPRF) gathered in Tokyo for a long-anticipated summit. There, they met with members of Japan’s House of Representatives from both major political parties to seek support for breaking from Russia and shaping a “post-Russian space.”
“Countless ethnic groups have been oppressed by Russia’s government,” Professor Yoko Hirose of Keio University told national television network NHK. “Never before have so many groups aiming to de-imperialize Russia come together in Japan,” he stressed, adding that it was “the first step toward a free and peaceful world after the war.”
The leaders of FNPRF are convinced that the collapse of Russia as it has existed since the fall of the U.S.S.R. is imminent. As such, they have emphasized the need to proactively develop a plan for “decolonization” of states like Chechnya, Dagestan, Buryatia, and Krasnodar.
The meeting marked the seventh such forum to be held since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last February. The first gathering was held last May in Warsaw, Poland, and the most recent in April at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
During the Tokyo conference, Japanese leaders announced their intention to create a “center to support the enslaved nations of the Russian Federation,” as well as a “Free Eurasia Coordination Center” as part of what they called the Tokyo Declaration. “From the participants who gathered from all over the world, we had the opportunity to hear the real voice of the peoples who are under the oppression of the imperialist and colonial policy of Russia,” Professor Yoshihiko Okabe, who will be the coordinator of the Free Eurasia Center, said.
One of the speakers, Inar Shelip, a senior official of the Chechen government in exile, emphasized the importance of using the Ukraine war to call attention to the broader independence movement inside Russia. “If the world had not been silent then,” Shelip said, referring to the outcome of the Second Chechen War, “there would have been no aggression today… it is time for all the people of the national independence movement to come together.”
Stanislav Suslov, a senior representative of the United States of Siberia, argued, “Russia’s return to democracy was not a safeguard against eventual relapse into dictatorship.” As such, he said, it is vital that non-Russian nations be granted sovereignty.
Dr. Maria Ochir, a representative of the Congress of the Oyrat-Kalmytsky people, said the bubbling independence movements inside Russia also have significant implications for the West’s efforts to counter the alliance between Russia and China: “The free world can prevent these authoritarian regimes from uniting by the support of sovereignty for national republics emerging in Russia.”
For Japan, the prospect of more democratic nations emerging from Russia’s Far East region is no doubt an enticing one. Japanese leaders have had conflict with China for thousands of years and have feuded with Moscow since Russian expansionism reached East Asia in the 19th century. If Japan could facilitate the establishment of friendly states within Russia’s current territory, it would be a major strategic victory.
This has made Japan a particularly strong ally of the FNPRF. As part of the Tokyo Declaration, Japanese parliamentarians, including a representative of the ruling Liberal Party, proclaimed that they are “committed to the deimperialization of the Russian Federation and liberation of all nations within the territory of Russia.”
Following the conference, a leading Japanese daily newspaper declared, “the countdown to collapse has begun.”
Other international groups have also started to take notice of FNPRF’s efforts in recent months, adding to their momentum. In June, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which enjoys observer status at the United Nations, released a statement condemning “the violently imperial and colonial nature of the State of the Russian Federation” and the “deliberate subordination of indigenous and ethnic minority nations within the Russian Federation.”
Although the Western media has largely ignored these developments, they nonetheless have the potential to dramatically alter the balance of world power. If Russia’s empire collapses, it would be a major blow to not just Moscow, but Beijing as well – and as such is something leaders in Washington and European capitals should be paying close attention to.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
The question everyone should be asking is this: Why is this conference being held in Japan and not at the UN? Shouldn’t the UN be holding a conference of this nature? Isn’t this one of the reasons the UN was created? Well, the answer is very simple. Despite decades of very successful propaganda as to all the positive reasons the UN was created and all the noble goals toward which it aims, that is and always was a bunch of hogwash created for the consumption of the public. The reality is that the UN was created by the globalists to be the nexus, the epicenter, the headquarters of “The One World Government”/”The New World Order”/”The Great Reset” or whatever they are calling it today. There is no more evil an organization in existence today than the UN. Don’t believe me? Take a good, hard look at the actions of the UN and its suborganizations like the WHO during the “pandemic.” Everything they did was aimed toward ending freedom and individual rights while creating centralized authortarianism. If you don’t see and understand that by now, you have a serious case of denial. And here’s one for you: the land on which the UN headquarters in Manhattan is located, arguably one of the most valuable pieces of real estate on earth, was donated by the Rockefellers, one of the leading globalist families. Wake up, people.
There is not a people or country on the planet, since the beginning of time that wants or chooses to be ruled/enslaved by another country or people. That is just a hard cold fact.
To Ben, Lawrence, Jeri, NOT julia and the world:
I want to thank you all for your writing here. I was totally unaware of the FNPRF’s continuing efforts and that they have had 4 meetings. I only can pray that they will be successful. When I worked in the soviet union and the middle east I saw what communism did and still tries to do to the people. And I have worked in or visited other communist run countries. Thank you Ben for trying to warn people of this terrible thing that has now arrived in this country. I tried to let people know since my return but it all has fallen on deaf ears.
Sincerely, Carol
China will save them financially because, like the US leveraged China against the Soviet Union, they leverage Russia against US.
Russia will do what is necessary to stay intact and Beijing will do what is in its best interest If the nationalists demanding independence are of moslem persuasion there is going to be a trouble even if independence is granted Kosovo anyone?
America doesn’t approve of secession, at least for its own people. Fought a war over the issue. America doesn’t approve of secession in Ukraine, even though it is known that there are a lot of people in Ukraine who would very much like to not be under Kiev’s authority. Yet Americans are supposed to sign on to supporting secession in Russia? Hypocrisy.
It will of course, continue to be ignored, by the elite power brokers in D. C. as well as their ” lapdogs” in the media. Putin was a Colonel in the KGB. He knows where the bodies are buried. He is skilled at his craft. Do not underestimate his ability to manipulate circumstances, and maintain “optics”
Let the freedom rings from Koenigsberg to Vladivostok, from Grozny to the northern Siberia.
These nations deserve liberty and sovereignty, it is their historic moment now.
As much as I’d like to see the Russian bear caged and it’s power limited we have to be careful of it not leading to a worse outcome — the strengthening of China.
Right now China and Russia are buddies because of Russia’s natural resources that China needs. Those resources are mostly located in areas that would split off if the Russian Federation flies apart. What would stop China from then seizing the territories and resources of some if not most of those nascent countries? Would the West go to war with China to stop them? I seriously doubt it, we wouldn’t even do a proxy war as we’re doing in Ukraine. China would claim (mostly correctly) that those territories were once part of China and they’d act accordingly. Even if China didn’t seize the territories and resources directly, those new nations could hardly resist being pulled into China’s sphere. They’re mostly landlocked and their choices for interaction/trade would either be Russia or China and China would clearly be the better choice compared to a severely weakened Russia.
There is likely no good outcome — we have to be smart in trying to direct things toward the least bad outcome.
… garbage article; pro-Ukraine propaganda. Russia is behind Putin, solid –