The Republics of Russia, CC license

Attribution Share Alike 3.0, courtesy of Wikipedia

Michael Khodarkovsky, writing at the Wall Street Journal, on the genuine existential threat to the Russian Federation, which is demographic, how it drove the invasion of Ukraine and how that invasion is likely to backfire and destroy the Russian Federation.

The big prize Putin coveted?

The Ukrainian people!

Who proved their mettle against Putin’s depredations.

Excerpt:

The Kremlin understands that Russia’s demographic trends are disastrous. The ethnic Russian population has declined precipitously over three decades, while the non-Russian population grew rapidly. According to some estimates, Russia could become a majority-Muslim country by the 2050s.

Mr. Putin is obsessed by the Russian gene, which he labels “special” and “endangered.” He invaded Ukraine in part to increase the Slavic population of Russia by incorporating the Ukrainians, whom he considers “Little Russians.” This attitude, together with Mr. Putin’s aspirations for “Russian world” in which all Russian speakers are united under Moscow’s rule, bears strong resemblance to 1930s Germany. It’s why Moscow has been kidnapping and transferring people—particularly children—from occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia.

Moscow has long considered Russia’s multiethnic character a potential threat to its ideal of a unitary state. With his war in Ukraine, Mr. Putin seems to have found an answer to his Russification efforts: genocide of various non-Russian peoples.

…

By sending poorly trained non-Russian men to Ukraine, Moscow may soon meet a similar fate. Centuries of pent-up bitterness and frustration over rule by Moscow may spill into a military confrontation and civil war. Given Russia’s current military defeats, this isn’t a distant prospect. If and when that happens, Russia will fall apart as the empire of the czars and Soviet Union did. It would be ironic if the man who wanted to revive the U.S.S.R. instead ushers in the twilight of Russia’s last empire.

Glory to Ukraine!