“World will see a free Ichkeria and a free Tatarstan,” secretary of Ukraine’s National Security Council says.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and annexed Crimea, many Ukrainians urged that their country play up the national divisions within the Russian Federation as a warning to Moscow that its efforts to undermine other countries along ethnic lines could end by undermining Russia itself.

The ruins of Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya, in March 1995 during the Second Russo-Chechen War after multi-year Russian air and artillery bombardment.

These efforts appeared to peak in 2018 and 2019 when the Verkhovna Rada discussed and then passed a resolution urging Kyiv to focus the world’s attention on Russia’s nationality problems.

The Ukrainian authorities subsequently made a number of statements on this issue and offered political asylum to ethnic activists from the Russian Federation that Moscow had been persecuting. But beyond raising awareness among Ukrainians about the Ukrainian regions inside Russia, the campaign appeared to be largely stillborn.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. Photo: Ukrainska Pravda

Now, there is an indication that that may be about to change. Speaking on a Kyiv radio station, Oleksiy Danilov , the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security Council, said that he was “confident” that the world will see “a free Ichkeria [Chechnya], a free Tatarstan, and Crimea back within the borders of Ukraine.”

Putin’s assault on Russian federalism in the Middle Volga region was a precursor to his imperial actions in Ukraine

And while he did not predict that this would happen soon, the security official did say that he was sure it would occur “within our lifetimes.” What is striking is that again just as in the case of Poland and Japan in the 1920s and 1930s, it is Russia’s neighbors who have experience with it rather than larger powers, which don’t that are moving in this direction.

Their attention to these issues means not only that they will give encouragement to the peoples living within the current borders of the Russian Federation but that Ukraine and other neighbors like Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland are going to become ever more important sources of information about regions and republics less studied elsewhere.

Read more:

• Kremlin simultaneously seeking to destroy republics and nations on which they rest, Shro says
• ‘If a bourgeois revolution is to start in Russia, it will begin with Tatarstan,’ Kazan historian says

• World’s largest flag of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria unraveled in central Kyiv

• Ukraine takes long-overdue action against major domestic pro-Russian actors
• Tatarstan’s efforts to help Gagauz de-Russify outrage some in Moscow
• Russia methodically destroys and removes cultural treasures from occupied Crimea
• 24 years ago, Moscow attacked Chechnya, triggering a war that changed everything (2018)
• On 73rd anniversary of deportation, Chechnya and Ingushetia divide on Stalin and his crimes
• Moscow has long sought to destroy Slavic languages other than Russian, Zolotaryev says
• Fewer Russians but more Russian speakers: The changing face of Russia
• Moscow has long sought to destroy Slavic languages other than Russian, Zolotaryev says
• New Siberian website provides data on Russification of non-Russians and repression of Russians
• Warning to Kremlin: Its non-Russians likely to become the Irish of the 21st century

You could close this page. Or you could join our community and help us produce more materials like this. We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society. A little bit goes a long way: for as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a month, you can help build bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world, plus become a co-creator and vote for topics we should cover next. Become a patron or see other ways to support. Become a Patron!