Denazification or de-imperialization (decolonization) of Russia

Denazification (cleansing of Nazism) is a set of measures aimed at cleansing German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, education, law and politics from the influence of Nazi ideology after World War II. As Professor Jan Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma, one of the leading figures of modern German public opinion, has noted, the importance of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal trial was that it established the tradition that political motive does not justify crime. Because most of the defendants tried to blame Hitler and the regime he established and expressed remorse. However, this vindication and repentance did not prevent Albert Speer, Hitler’s favorite architect, from being sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Post-war trials of Nazi criminals recognized aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity as violations of international law, setting important precedents and leading to the creation of international law regarding such crimes.

The basis for the denazification of Nazi Germany was laid by the Moscow Declaration, signed on October 30, 1943 by the USA, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. The Moscow Declaration provided for the complete disarmament of German troops after the end of the war, the trial of the leaders of the Nazi regime in the international military court, and the trial of all officers and soldiers of the German armed forces, including members of the Nazi Party, responsible for atrocities in the occupied countries. As a result of the declaration, local courts examined 3.7 million criminal cases related to Nazi crimes and sentenced 900,000 people. Among those convicted were soldiers, active members of the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), industrialists, doctors and lawyers. The number of convicted NSDAP members was more than 25,000.

The fact that Russia is a fascist (racist) state makes the denazification of Russia a necessity. However, denazification of Russia is not enough for this country to become a democratic state. Some people in the West believe that denazification can direct Russia to the path to democratic development. Prosecuting war criminals in international tribunals may be the beginning of denazification, but it will not completely eliminate the Russian threat.

It would be naive to think that the Russian threat comes from Putin. The source of  danger of Russia  is Russian Nazism. It would be a catastrophic mistake to think that Russian Nazism can be reformed. Russian Nazism has been formed over the past several centuries, mainly over the last 400 years. During this period, the Russians carried out genocide several times against Ukrainians, Ahiska Turks, Tatars, Chechens, Ingush, Circassians and other peoples. According to many researchers, during the Soviet period alone, genocide was carried out against eleven nations. The “food” of Russian Nazism is the life and blood of tens of millions of people destroyed in these genocides. The reason for the two genocides committed against the Chechen nation in the last 30 years and the mass murders in Ukraine is that Russian Nazism needs the blood of hundreds of thousands of people to survive. Therefore, the illusion that Russian Nazism will be reformed must be condemned. The desire and efforts of Russian opposition politicians to keep Russia within its current borders serve to preserve Russian Nazism. Preserving the integrity of Russia may mean opening the way to even greater disasters.

Commenting on the destruction of peaceful cities with destructive missiles by Ukraine, Dmitry Peskov, Russian presidential aide, said that if Ukraine recognizes the “legitimate interests of Russia,” this would put an end to the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Russia’s “legitimate interests” in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia lie in the fact that the countries and peoples of these regions are under the slavery of Moscow.

By the way, I note that the above opinion of Peskov, the assistant and press secretary of the Russian president, is the Russian version of Hitler’s shameful opinion addressed to Great Britain during his speech in the Reichstag on July 17, 1940. Speaking about the bombing of peaceful British cities, Hitler stated that if London recognized the legitimate interests of Germany, they could stop military actions to put an end to the suffering of the British people. This example shows that fascism and racism have the same essence and operate by the same idea. This point shows that denazification or democratization will not be enough to defeat Russian Nazism.

To put an end to racism, the goal must be the “de-imperialization” of Russia, as Ben Hodges (Frederick Benjamin “Ben” Hodges III), the former commander of US forces in Europe General, said. Because the existence of racism is the existence of the state with an irrationally large territory. Just as racism is the driver of the global military threat and the struggle against democracy, it is also the driver of global corruption. All this suggests that the de-imperialization of Russia will lead to the elimination of the global military threat and will open the way to long-term achievements in the struggle against corruption. The fall of Russia fully meets the interests of the civilized world.

As long as Russia keeps its existence as a united state, a new order of collective security and long-term peace in the whole world, as well as in Europe, is impossible.

The principle of self-determination of peoples, formed in modern international law after the First World War, was reflected in the UN Charter and the CSCE Final Act of 1975 in the second half of the 20th century. According to the results of the 2021 population census in Russia, out of 147.2 million people, only 105.6 million indicated that they were Russian by nationality, 25 million indicated that they belonged to other nationalities, and 16.6 million people did not indicate their nationality. Those who do not indicate their nationality are more likely to be non-Russian than Russian. Because if a person in the state does not belong to the titular nation, which is the creator of the state, and if he believes that belonging to another nationality will create some problems for him in society, he will definitely hide his nationality. This suggests that more than 40 million people living in Russia do not consider themselves Russian.

“Deimperialization” (decolonization) of Russia must begin with the recognition of the right to self-determination of non-Russian nations. Leading countries and governments of the world must recognize the right to self-determination of the nations living in Russian colonies. This time, the decisions of the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum can be taken as a basis. The first conference was held on May 8-9, 2022 in Warsaw (Poland), the second conference was held on July 22-24, 2022 in Prague (Czech Republic), the third conference was held on September 23-25, 2022 in Gdansk (Poland), the fourth conference was held on December 7-11, 2022 in Helsingborg (Sweden), the fifth conference was held on January 31, 2023 in the European Parliament building in Brussels (Belgium), the sixth conference was held on April 25-28, 2023 in the three main political centers of the USA, Washington, New York and Philadelphia, the seventh conference was held in August, 2023 in Tokyo (Japan).

The national movements that were presented at the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum are trying to divide Russia into 41 states. The US Congress, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, as well as the parliaments of Great Britain, Japan and Australia, must recognize the right of peoples and nations to self-determination as represented at the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum.

In addition, the US Congress and the European Parliament must recognize the sovereignty of the “Chechen Republic of Ichkeria” and recognize Ichkeria as a territory temporarily occupied by Russia as a result of armed aggression contrary to the UN Charter, like the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The third step in the framework of “de-imperialization” (decolonization) of Russia should be the recognition of the claims of the states and nations that are the real owners of lands under Russian occupation. For example, along with Japan’s right to the northern lands (Kuril Islands), Finland’s right to Karelia, Azerbaijan’s right to sovereignty over the northern lands (Derbend) under Russian occupation is recognized.

The logic of history is unbreakable. The logic of history says that the Russian empire will disintegrate, as all empires disintegrated.

Khagani Jafarli,

Coordinator of the Azerbaijan Platform for Supporting Ukraine in the Name of Democracy