KavkazCenter - RUSSIAN SPRING. All post-imperial states see a rise in nationalism

RUSSIAN SPRING. All post-imperial states see a rise in nationalism

The Financial Times published an article by its Moscow correspondent Charles Clover, "Nationalist 'ghost at feast' in Russia", which explores the phenomenon of Nationalists taking part in anti-Putin demonstrations in Russia together with the supporters of leftist Liberal-Democratic values. The main part of the article is devoted to Maxim Martsinkevich, nom de guerre "Machete". He is well known and popular in England since before he was sent to Gulag by Putin's regime in 2007, British television aired a 6-part documentation on Russian Nationalists, in which he played a major role. Clover writes: "Maksim Martsinkevich, nom de guerre "Machete", insists he is not a skinhead, even though his pate is smooth as a cue ball. The 27-year-old does not like being called a Nazi, though he once belonged to something called the National Socialist Organisation and spent four years in jail, in part for shouting "Sieg Heil!" at a political debate in 2007.

He also insists that he is not a Russian opposition leader, even though he came second in an internet vote to determine who should speak at a December 24 anti-Kremlin rally that attracted up to 100,000, the largest public demonstration since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Mr Martsinkevich was ultimately denied the stage by the organizers because of his racist views and penchant for throwing the odd "roman salute" in public.

Over a cup of coffee at a Moscow Starbucks, however, he complains bitterly about the hypocrisy of it all. "I didn't even want to speak," Mr Martsinkevich says. "I just wanted to show that these other so-called opposition leaders are no leaders. If they can't even win their own vote, what kind of power do they think they are going to get?"

Many democrats want to avoid seeing nationalism used to divide the opposition.

Skinheads loyal to Mr Martsinkevich tried to rush the stage at the December rally but were convinced to stand down - by other nationalists.

Some also believe that Mr Martsinkevich may be supported by the Kremlin in an effort to divide and discredit the real opposition. It is a charge he heatedly denies, citing his time in prison.

"They say I'm a Kremlin project. Where do they think I spent the last four years - in Bali?"

In his article, Clover notes that earlier, the followers of Nationalist ideas were considered by the Kremlin as the main group, on which Putin could always rely in fighting pro-Westen Liberal Democrats. When Putin came to power in 2000, he was cheered some Nationalists (but not all, because Putin is a Jew) as a strong ruler who wants to restore the Russian pride. Now the Russian leadership is anxiously watching how more and more Nationalists desert to Democratic opposition, says the FT.

At December 24 anti-Putin rally, which brought together about 100,000 people, mostly of them were Liberals and supporters of civil rights and liberties. But among them there were also supporters of Nationalistic ideas- which had never happened before.

"The Putin regime has sent 1,500 of my brothers to prison. That is more than all the dissidents sent to prison under Brezhnev", said, speaking at a rally, Tor, one of the leaders of the nationalist movement

According to the newspaper, Putin advocates a more imperial and militaristic brand of nationalism than most Russians. He rarely has a press conference these days without hinting that dark foreign forces are at work destabilizing Russia.

He has championed a 19tn rouble ($ 614bn) spending binge re-equipping Russia's military and called for the creation of a "Eurasian Union" of former Soviet states.

However, most ordinary Russians seem more drawn to ethnic nationalism, rather than nostalgia for great power. They are more concerned about immigration, which has increased rapidly under Putin due to Russia's economic growth; about ethnic tensions between neighborhood gangs; and the budget-draining federal subsidies for the war-torn north Caucasus.

"We [nationalists and liberals] have very different views about the future development of Russia. But we are united in seeking an end to the regime, free registration of political parties, and free elections", Mr Tor says in an interview.

Nationalists, on whose support Kremlin relied earlier, now increasingly oppose the government.

A synergy between liberals and nationalists is obvious to many in the opposition: Russia's liberals have too many leaders and not enough followers, while nationalists have the opposite problem.

Liberal ideas were discredited by the economic misery of the Yeltsin years, and the plethora of liberal parties have trouble finding recruits. Meanwhile, polls such as the Levada centre's show broad public support for nationalist ideas but there is a lack of credible parties and popular leaders.

The most successful opposition leaders have been those who can fuse liberalism and nationalism, writes FT. Among those the newspaper names Alexei Navalny, who calls himself a moderate nationalist, extolling democracy and fighting corruption. He favors curbs on immigration and argues that the war-torn Caucasus should be treated as "Russia's Gaza Strip" and politically isolated.

In the Russian context, with its violent skinhead gangs, Mr Navalny is indeed a moderate, though Mr Verkhovsky likens him to far-right European politicians such as Geert Wilders and his Dutch Freedom Party.

Ilya Yashin, a leader of the liberal opposition Solidarity movement, makes a distinction between radical nationalists and "constitutional" ones:

"I see nothing wrong with a tactical alliance with constitutional nationalists. I am certainly against what they say but their views certainly have a place in the political system, and they are represented in most European parliamentary democracies".

In the current turmoil, hardline nationalism is the "ghost at the feast" in the words of Alexander Verkhovsky, an expert on nationalism at Moscow's Sova Centre think-tank. He says Russia is seeing a resurgence of the far right. "It's natural. We had an empire, and it collapsed. All post-imperial states see a rise in nationalism. The question is not whether or not there will be a rise in nationalism, the question is what form it will take".

Department of Monitoring Kavkaz Center