WILL SIBERIA SECEDE FROM RUSSIA?
Anti-Putin demonstration in Khabarovsk, Siberia, August 2, 2020
The protests in Khabarovsk and other Russian cities in Siberia and the Far East over the last month have called attention to something that has been a problem for the central Russian government since at least the 19th century.
Russia east of the Urals is simply too big in size and too small in population; too economically important and too central to the self-conception of Russians everywhere; too far away from Moscow and too close to China and the Pacific; and yet, too culturally different from Russians in the European portions of the country.Moscow is already more concerned about Siberian regionalism than ever before. But now, the Siberians themselves—ethnic Russian and non-Russian alike—are giving the center more compelling reasons to worry.










