Tuesday 31 January 2023 @ 9:30 - 18:30 CET

For many who have experienced Russian oppression in the past, the war in Ukraine can only end when the Russian Federation is completely repulsed and defeated. In order to finally remove the threat to peace that the Russian Federation still poses, the international community should seek a re-federalisation of the Russian state.

To take this idea further, ECR Foreign Affairs Coordinator Anna Fotyga, together with ECR MEP Kosma Złotowski, will host the conference ‘Imperial Russia: Conquest, Genocide and Colonisation. Prospects for Deimperialisation and Decolonisation’. The event will cover topics such as ‘Imperial Ideology (From Muscovy to the Russian Mir) & Conquest and Exploitation (from Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin)’, ‘Impact of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine on Nations and Regions in the Russian Federation’, ‘Deimperialisation and Decolonisation. The Prison of Nations after the war’ and ‘Western Policy Towards Russia - Beyond the Status Quo’.

Tsarist, Soviet or under Putin, Russia has not changed over the centuries. It is driven by the same imperial instincts, repeating the same pattern: conquest, genocide, colonisation, and then seeking a silent acceptance of the status quo, bribing the international community with the mirage of economic cooperation or the illusion of a vast Russian market. It is naive to think that the Russian Federation can remain within the same constitutional and territorial framework. Taking into account the national and ethnic map of the territories of the Russian Federation, we should discuss the prospects for the creation of free and independent states in the post-Russian space, as well as the prospects for their stability and prosperity. The international community has a duty to support the rights of the indigenous peoples who, as a result of Russian conquest and colonisation, now exist within the borders of the Russian Federation.

A live video link in English is available here, and in Russian here.

Agenda

Panel 1: Imperial Ideology (From Muscovy to the Russian Mir) & Conquest and Exploitation (from Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin) @ 9:30 - 11:15

• Brian Williams (USA)
• Stanislav Suslov (Siberia)
• Fatima Tlis (Cherkessia)
• Akhmed Zakayev (Ichkeria)
• Marek Kornat (Poland)
• Vladislav Inozemtsev (RF)
• Artem Tarasov (Pskov Republic)
• Bjorn Safronov (Laplandia Republic/Murmansk)
• Anvar Kurmanakaev (Nogai Republic)
• Alexander Zolotarev (Don\Kazakia)
• Juliia Faizrakhmanova (Tatarstan)
• Maksim Kuzakhmetov (Ingria-Latvia)
• Moderator: MEP Anna Fotyga

Panel 2: Impact of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine on Nations and Regions in the Russian Federation @ 11:15 - 12:30

• Andrius Almanis (Lithuania-Siberia)
• Illya Lazarenko (Moscow Republic)
• Evgenios Bursanidis (Kuban)
• Andrey Sidelnikov (UK-RF)
• Pavel Mezerin (Ingria)
• Gunther Fehlinger (Austria)
• Pavlo Klimkin (Ukraine)
• Moderator: MEP Kosma Złotowski

14:00 - 14:30 Press Conference (Anna Politkovskaya room)

Panel 3: Deimperialisation and Decolonisation. The Prison of Nations after the war @ 15:00 - 16:30

• Ruslan Gabbasov (Bashkortostan)
• Davur Dordzhiec (Oirat Republic)
• Raisa Zubareva (Sakha)
• Florian Schur (Kenigsberg)
• Dmitri Kyznezov (Karelia)
• Ahmad Ozdo (Ingushetia)
• Marina Khankhalaeva (Buratia)
• Dmitry Berezhkov (International Committee Indigenous Peoples of Russia)
• Rafis Kashapov (Idel-Ural)
• Moderator: MEP Anna Fotyga

Panel 4: Western Policy Towards Russia - Beyond the Status Quo @ 16:30 - 18:30

• Edward Lucas (UK)
• Ilya Ponomarev (RF)
• Oleg Dunda (Ukraine)
• Carlos Uriarte (Spain)
• Luke Coffey (USA)
• Vadim Sidorov (Centre Ostropa/Smalandia)
• Čedomir Stojković (Serbia)
• Rainhard Kloucek (Austria)
• Janusz Bugajski (USA)
• Moderator: MEP Roberts Zīle