The escalation of the Kremlin’s militaristic propaganda is reaching its peak as Russian and Ukrainian forces mobilize toward the potential conflict zone. Serious experts have estimated the likelihood of a new war between Putin’s Russia and Ukraine to range from «quite possible» to «inevitable. Any major war will inevitably affect Muslims among other citizens and residents of Russia and Ukraine. However, what is happening can also be viewed from the perspective of Muslims as a community with its own values and interests, rather than just Muslims as individuals — citizens and residents of the two countries.
Yesterday, the deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak, declared that Russia would be «forced» to defend the unrecognized Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the occupied territory of Ukraine «if, as our president says, a Srebrenica-like scenario unfolds there». We have previously commented on their president’s remarks about Srebrenica (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=37696). The height of cynicism lies in the fact that the same leadership that is blocking the recognition of the genocide in Srebrenica is using it as a trump card in its dirty games. These really dirty games are being played by the Great Serbian chauvinists who orchestrated the genocide in Srebrenica and continue to be the Kremlin’s main ally and instrument in the Balkans, promoting the same ideas that are now being proclaimed by pro-Kremlin ideologists and propagandists.
For those who have forgotten or do not know, the bloody war began first in Croatia and then in Bosnia and Herzegovina because Slobodan Milosevic, by his own actions, caused the disintegration of Yugoslavia and decided to revise the internationally recognized borders between Serbia and these two republics, effectively annexing the territories populated by Serbs to Serbia. So whose goals coincide today with the organizers of the genocide in Srebrenica? Is it those who want to separate internationally recognized territories from a neighboring state and annex them, or is it those who want to regain control over their internationally recognized territories, as Azerbaijan did at the end of 2000?
However, if we look at the situation from a Muslim perspective, it should not be limited to an analogy with Srebrenica. In the same interview yesterday, Kozak also said that the beginning of hostilities in Donbass would be «the beginning of the end for Ukraine». This is a serious statement, and it should be understood what it means in general and specifically for Muslims in Russia and Ukraine.
The ideologues of the «Russian world» have long made no secret of their goal of eliminating Ukraine as an independent Ukrainian state by annexing at least eight eastern and southern regions in one form or another and establishing external control over the remaining parts. There is no need to explain what the «Russian world» will bring to the Muslims in the regions of Ukraine that would come under its control — those who read the news about Crimea on our website and other sites covering events there should understand this.
But it is equally important to understand that the realization of this scenario will also adversely affect Muslims in Russia itself, as well as the country as a whole. It will not only lead to unprecedented sanctions and turn the country into another Iran, with all the economic and demographic consequences. In essence, the «beginning of the end for Ukraine» that the ideologists of the «Russian world» dream of will also mark the final end of the Russian Federation as a federative multinational state created after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The Russian Federation, which emerged after the collapse of the USSR, was based on such principles as the recognition of the inviolability of the external borders of post-Soviet states (although Abkhazia and South Ossetia had already been de facto annexed by Georgia before Putin, Russia did not recognize them) and the recognition of internal federalism and autonomy of national republics. This is the kind of state that the ideologists and supporters of the «Russian world» despise and want to change, both its external and internal borders. Externally, through the annexation of «historically Russian lands» such as southeastern Ukraine, Belarus, and northern Kazakhstan, and internally, through the abolition of national republics and their transformation into Russian provinces (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=35326).
Moreover, the two are directly related, because in the case of unofficial annexation of the territories of south-eastern Ukraine to Russia, especially in isolation from the outside world, the chauvinistic, fanatical public, having tasted blood, will massively integrate into the Russian power and security structures. Unable to confront more serious opponents on the world stage, they will target national republics, considering them a source of suppuration on the body of a «united and indivisible Russia». This threat existed as early as 2014 and partially materialized when Crimea was annexed, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics were created, and many supporters of the «Russian world» who had fled Ukraine moved to Russia and became part of the Kremlin’s propaganda and power structures. At that time, however, these developments were contained, whereas now they dream of implementing their plans in full.
Of course, Putin has long since virtually abolished the state that was created and existed under Yeltsin — an imperfect state, but one that recognized international law and the inviolability of external borders, as well as the broad autonomy of the republics internally. The beginning of the end was marked by the attempt to solve the Chechen problem by force. Formally, however, the remnants of this state still exist, albeit in the form of nominal national republics, in which the Muslim peoples in particular feel themselves to be completely different from the ordinary regions.
The «end of Ukraine» dreamed of by pro-Kremlin ideologists and propagandists will also be the end of the Russian Federation, its present pitiful remains, and its final transformation into a Russian Orthodox Iran led by the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Chekist Donbass «KSIR» and «Basij». Therefore, Muslims should hope that the end will come for the «Russian world» itself, that Ukraine will stand strong and restore its territorial integrity, and that the Russian Federation will become part of the international community, recognizing both external and internal borders, as well as the rights of its republics, peoples, and citizens.