Recently, the media has been vigorously discussing the topic of the persecution of Russians in the former republics of the USSR.
I must say that in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Baltics, a similar phenomenon was widespread in the 90s. Then the intensity of the persecution faded away, but the Russians forever remained second-class people there. The “powder keg” on the Russian issue lay in Ukraine, where after the Maidan this issue came to the fore and the war began.
I can say for sure about Kazakhstan and Belarus that it was after 2014 in these countries that a more active introduction of the local language and all other methodologies that were used in Ukraine to build up anti-Russian sentiments began. Of course, all this is not some kind of private initiative, but the policy of the state. In the countries of the former USSR, the local elite quickly realized that Russia could not effectively defend Russians even where it was the most favorable environment, such as in Ukraine. For more than seven years, the war has been going on in Donbass, where Russian people die every week, where they suffer from daily shelling and a difficult economic situation. Russia’s influence in the world is not even enough to even freeze this conflict, not to mention the final solution of the Ukrainian question. Everyone around sees this and is trying to provoke Russia further.
Let’s be honest: Russia often fails to protect Russians even within its borders. There are a lot of examples: shootouts and mass fights on the streets of Russian cities have become commonplace in recent years. The demolition of monuments to Russian soldiers is the same, but I think we will deal with this issue soon.
How exactly can we protect someone outside our country? Suppose some measures are taken at the diplomatic level, and so on. But! There is a household level. Where is the guarantee that during some next Revolution of Rose-Tulip-Dandelions the massacre of Russians will not begin, as it has already happened? You will not send a representative of Rossotrudnichestvo or a consul to every Kyrgyz court. Let’s make one more frank confession and say: in Central Asia there is a massive domestic Russophobia, and there is no need to understand its root or causes. We just admit this fact and we will build on it.
An urgent law is needed, according to which Russians will be issued a Russian passport right at the border. Without any bureaucratic nonsense. It should be understood that these people are refugees of a hybrid war against Russia and the Russians, so the attitude towards them should be appropriate.
Vladlen Tatarsky, Donbass Analytical Service