On September 25 the conference titled “Dialogue of Nations. Peoples’ right to self-determination and construction of the multipolar world” was held in Moscow. As well as last year this conference was attended by the delegations representing separatist organizations from all over the world: Catalonia, Northern Ireland, Western Sahara, Scotland, Kurdistan, Italian provinces Lombardi and Veneto, the US (advocates of the independent Hawaii and Puerto-Rico), separatists from Texas and California. There were 16 delegations in total. The separatists from Abkhazia, Transnistria, Southern Ossetia, Karabach, and Eastern Ukraine (from the so-called DPR and LPR) were also on the attendance list. In terms of the latter it would be more properly to say terrorists. According to the British Jane’s survey “DPR” insurgents took the third place among the most active terrorists in the world and the “LPR” fighters got the 7th outstripping the Afghan Talibans, Indian Maoists, and fighters from Gaza strip and Al-Shaab in Somali.
The coordinator of the conference is the so-called Russian Antiglobalist movement established in 2012 as an organization to “support nations and states resisting the dictatorship of the monopolar world and striving to offer an alternative agenda”.
Amid the honorable members of the Antiglobalist movement are the President of Syria Bashar Assad, former President of Iran Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Among the partners of the movement is “Novorossia” media agency. “Officers of Russia” headed by the chairman of the security Commission of the common house Anton Tsvetkov, ranks among organizations related directly or indirectly to the arrangement of the conference. Inter alia General Leonid Ivashov, deputy Yosif Kobzon and artist Vasilii Lanovoi put their hands to the preparation of the conference.
National charity fund providing financial support for the conference was established in remote 1999 on the initiative of the then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin – as National Military Fund. Chairman of this organization is Lieutenant-General Vladimir Nosov, former Deputy Chief of the FSB military counterintelligence department. Among main donators of the fund are oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Suleiman Kerimov, National Russian bank “Sberbank”, oil company “LUKoil”, factory “Severstal”, “Onexim”… The fund operates under the auspices of the president’s administration and Putin in person.
Idea-mongers of the conference don’t conceal their goals that consist in supporting and reinforcing separatist moods in the West, disrupting stability of the states, strengthen centrifugal procedures in the EU entailing the split of Europe and globally the alteration of the geopolitical world map. Obviously these tasks are unattainable in the nearest future though it is pretty possible to destabilize the situation in 5-10 years. The fact that it the second similar conference (the first took place in Moscow in September 2015) allows to suppose that Kremlin has a certain strategy oriented at fueling international tensions beyond Russia and systematic actions undertaken to put this strategy in life.
Marginality of the western separatists does not have a significant meaning for Moscow. Russia exploits any opportunity to implicate its policy through the foreigners in order to split Europe. Moreover the Kremlin by organizing this conference takes the opportunity to show Russians that their country is not isolated and it even receives international conferences.
Another important aspect is boundless hypocrisy of the Kremlin. Separatist conference vividly demonstrates its double-standard policy regarding that Moscow supports national movements abroad but severely strangles them in Russia calling any displays of self-consciousness separatism. And this statement is proved by real examples: in year 2013 Putin issued the law envisaging penalty for public appeals to violate territorial integrity of the state and the RF Criminal Code was complemented with one of the most controversial articles – 280.1: public appeals to carry out the action oriented at violating territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. According to the RF Supreme Court since 2015 15 criminal cases have been initiated under this article.
In 2015 were sentenced the following people: Rafis Kashapov, Yurii Avdoshkin, Daria Poliudova, Vladimir Zavarkin, Aleksei Moroshkin. In 2016 Aleksei Bubeiev was awarded the sentence. The proceedings of Ilmi Umerov, Nikolai Semena, Vladimir Khagdaiev and Andrei Piontkovskii are still being prosecuted. These peoples’ declarations touched upon the status of Crimea (eight proceedings have been commenced), Karelia, Siberia and Ural, united Mongolia, Chechnya, Komi Republic, Kuban, Kaliningrad region (one criminal case in each).
Nowadays the entities of the Russian Federation have no right to secede. Even if at the time of joining any entity was perceived by Russia as an independent subject of international legal relations possessing all the rights to self-determination, after been integrated to the Federation it has lost its rights once and forever. Today it is even forbidden to pose such question let alone introduce it for referendum. In Russia it is unlawful to talk about as well as appeal to secede from the Federation even by peaceful means. These questions are not allowed not only to be discussed but even criticized (that is to dispute the legitimacy of the decision taken by Russian authorities), to say nothing of calling upon to revoke the decisions of lawmaker and Head of State. In this case it doesn’t matter if there is a feasible threat to the sovereignty of the state in a citizen’s utterances, or if there are any appeals to violence. Russian courts disregard the freedom–of–speech principle.
In response to the persistent Kremlin’s pursuit to reveal in front of international community the alleged procedures aimed at strangling national self-consciousness by some western governments disliked by Putin, I would like to quote one of Jesus’ commandments: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, when all time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (the Gospel according to St. Matthew, 7:3-5).