The republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan today are the keys to the lock, which opens the way to the collapse of Russia. Russia is a classic empire that expanded by conquering other states and peoples. The first major independent national state that was conquered by the Russians was the Kazan Khanate. Then the Tatars and other peoples that were part of this state lost their independence, and after them the Bashkirs. Feeling the taste of blood, the empire began to expand further: Siberia, the Caucasus, Poland, Turkestan. But it all started with the Tatars and Bashkirs, and it is with the Tatars and Bashkirs that today's Russia should end. After the inevitable defeat of Russia in the war with Ukraine, irreversible processes will begin to take place in the country. 

Moscow liberals, or, as they are called today, "good Russians," if they come to power, are already ready to grant independence to the Chechen Republic, Ingushetia, and Tyva. For the sake of preserving the integrity of the main part of Russia, they will even be ready to let go of Sakha-Yakutia, Buryatia, and the entire Caucasus. Even without these republics, Russia will remain a gigantic country. But they are not ready to let go of the two largest republics — Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. If these two Turkic republics declare their independence, then Russia will split into two parts and everything beyond the Ural Mountains will automatically fall away.

Read also
On the independence of the captive peoples and liquidation of the Russian Federation

Also, together with Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, four more national republics of the Volga region will declare their independence: Udmurtia, Mari El, Chuvashia and Mordovia, which will be divided into Ěrzäń Mastor and Mokšeń Mastor. Thus, only Russian territories will remain in Russia, which will pick up the baton in the same way and, most likely, will also begin detaching, for example, the Urals and Siberia. Of course, this option is unacceptable for those who want to replace Putin and continue to rule the entire country from the Moscow Kremlin.

That is why Moscow liberals react so sharply when they hear about the desire for independence of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. They will convince the Bashkirs and Tatars to stay, they will promise any liberties and privileges as part of the "Beautiful Russia of the Future". If Ufa and Kazan are adamant in their desire for independence, they may go to war in order to force them to stay.

All healthy forces in Ukraine understand that the imperial Russia, even after the defeat, even with the advent of the liberals, still remains a dangerous monster, which sooner or later will again unleash a war against its neighbours. Therefore, Ukraine is well aware that the disintegration of Russia into dozens of independent states, not only along national, but also along regional borders, is a boon for everyone for many centuries.

This means that the descendants of Ukrainians will live in peace, without fear of aggression from the "Russian world". Ukraine needs to set for itself a strategically important task to work on the collapse of Russia, and first of all it is necessary to pay attention to Tatarstan and Bashkortostan.

I think that it is worthwhile, first of all, to establish partnership relations with the national liberation movements of these republics. Each of them has its own representative bodies abroad, which are working to ensure that their republics gained independence. If the Ukrainian authorities, politicians and public opinion leaders begin to interact more closely with these representative bodies, thereby legitimizing them in the eyes of the politicians of other countries, and most importantly, in the eyes of the peoples they represent, then the process of disintegration will start in the heads of the inhabitants of these republics. After all, the most important thing is to prepare societies for the inevitable changes, to give them a picture of the future.

At the same time, it will be clear that no one recognizes the current leaders of the national republics, does not want to communicate with them, they are outcasts in the entire civilized world. I am sure that, following Ukraine, this initiative will be supported by Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Great Britain, etc.

I also believe that, in addition to recognizing the legitimacy of the leadership of the national liberation movements of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and other national republics of the Volga-Ural region, it is necessary to lay the foundation for their future national troops. At the moment, according to the Ukrainian military correspondent Dmitry Karpenko, more than 100 soldiers from Bashkortostan are in captivity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

For more than a year and a half of the war in Ukraine, only 12 people were exchanged from Bashkortostan. The same data we see for Tatarstan. At the same time, there are three times more exchanged prisoners from the Moscow region, although there are much fewer mobilized ones. This suggests that the politicians from the Kremlin are indifferent to the fate of non-Russian peoples, whom she forced to fight for the "Russian world", and that the return of representatives of these peoples to their homeland is undesirable. What if they understood something in Ukrainian captivity?

You can take advantage of this situation. It is necessary to provide the bodies of the national liberation movements abroad with an opportunity to conduct agitation among their compatriots. Thus, we can form combat units that will be motivated and charged to fight for the independence of their national republics.

All this together will give real results in strengthening the actions of the national liberation movements in their desire to liberate their peoples and national republics from imperial Russia.

Legitimacy from world politicians and own national armed forces fighting on the side of Ukraine — all this will have devastating consequences for all of Russia after the X-hour comes. Bashkirs, Tatars and other colonized peoples will automatically withdraw from its composition without any serious consequences.

The key thing is to start the process.

Articles published in the "Opinions" section reflect the point of view of the author and may not reflect the position of the LIGA.net editors