Russian Democrats Must Take the Lead in Creating Arrangements for Nations Too Small for Independence or Even a Federal State, Pivovarov Says

Paul Goble

    Staunton, Apr 27 – Numerically small and dispersed nations, of which the Russian Federation currently has almost 50, are too small for independence to be a viable option and likely even too small to have their own states within a revamped federal system, opposition politician Andrey Pivovarov says.

    But if Russia is to be a democracy in which all nations have equal rights, he says, it is important that they have a mechanism to allow them to control more of their own lives and that if Russian liberals take the lead in promoting one, they will gain new allies (moscowtimes.ru/2025/04/27/kak-zaschitit-malie-narodi-rossii-i-sdelat-ih-soyuznikami-a162180).

    Pivovarov suggests that the way in which American states and Canada have created councils for corporate representation of indigenous peoples in the offices of governors could be a model for such arrangements. These councils allow the indigenous people to have greater control over resources and more say over their own affairs.

    The Russian democratic opposition has been much criticized for its failure to support non-Russian aspirations, and Pivovarov’s proposal is a rare example of an attempt by them to bridge the gap by suggesting such an arrangement for the smallest nationalities. But his idea is certain to face opposition.

    On the one hand, many of the smallest nationalities believe that they have every right to seek and secure state independence (e.g., facebook.com/groups/agonist.press/permalink/1613652279293262); and they are certain to dismiss Pivovarov’s proposal out of hand.

    And on the other, both they are representatives of larger nations like the Tatars, Bashkirs, Tuvins and Kalmyks are certain to view this proposal as reflecting a negative view among Russian democrats about all non-Russians, one that in their minds reduces their nations to the status of “wild” indigenous populations rather than as people with inalienable rights.

    But despite that, any discussion of how to handle the complexity of the population of the Russian Federation in the future if and when genuine federalism is established can only be welcomed because these are serious issues and they need to be discussed calmly rather than emotionally as has typically been the case.