Last weekend a congress was held in Kazan, where the creation of the interregional public movement «Regions for the Unity of Russia» was announced. The founders of the movement are Evgeny Efremov, a deputy from the city of Zelenodolsk in Tatarstan, who has repeatedly complained to Russian security forces about the leadership of Tatarstan for «separatism,» and Mikhail Shcheglov, a chauvinist who calls for the liquidation of Tatarstan and its transformation into the Kazan province.
With such leaders and such a name, it is not difficult to guess the goals and ideology of the new movement. They declare their opposition to «local corruption, separatism» and «manifestations of nationalism». To understand what falls under these categories, Efremov once complained to the prosecutor’s office that Rustam Minnikhanov continues to call himself the president of Tatarstan, and Shcheglov fought for the exclusion of the Tatar language from the curriculum of Tatarstan’s schools.
Of course, some might say that these two are marginalized individuals. But it turns out that these marginalized individuals eventually prevailed over the «powerful decision-makers» who sit in the Kazan Kremlin and manipulate billions. They took away the presidency of Tatarstan, and before that they abolished the compulsory teaching of the Tatar language.
In this connection, it is necessary to remember that in the past those who now lead the Russian occupation administrations of the so-called DPR, LPR, as well as Crimea, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions of Ukraine, were also considered marginalized. So let’s not be deceived — marginals have come to power in Russia because Putin today is perceived as no less a marginal figure than Shcheglov was in Tatarstan, and there is no point in talking about Medvedev.
So, yes, marginals will support marginals, so what? What will you do if tomorrow they start «denazification» not only of Tatarstan but of other Russian republics? Especially if they lose the war with Ukraine (which will happen sooner or later) and have to take it out on someone.
Moreover, the incident with the football club «Rubin», which happened on the same weekend, shows that they can use it precisely to exploit such feelings. The football players of Tatarstan decided to donate their earnings from the match against the football club «Volga» to the victims of the recent earthquake in Turkey. An ordinary act of humanity, but what happened next? There was a fuss on all the Z blogs about the threat of pan-Turkism because they were sending money to the Turks instead of giving it to the ZVO. And this despite the fact that relations between Moscow and Ankara are quite good.
Therefore, the danger of creating similar, seemingly fringe organizations should not be underestimated. In the same Tatarstan that was once known for its powerful national movement, such congresses can no longer be held, and its prominent representatives do not sit in legislative assemblies like Efremov, but have either emigrated, like the Kashapov brothers, or are constantly under threat of imprisonment, like Fauzia Bairamova.
Why is it necessary to constantly remind everyone of this? So that those who still don’t understand realize that their enemy is not in Ukraine, where they send their husbands, fathers and sons to be slaughtered for the ideas of people like Efremov and Shcheglov. And that they should be prepared to deal with this enemy at the first opportunity, lest he ultimately destroy them.