The idea of decolonization of Russia and the North Caucasus: modern context (based on the results of content analysis of publications in Telegram)

Gabaraeva Marina Ruslanovna
Vladikavkaz Scientific Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladikavkaz, Russia
E-mail: mariina95@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8115-0518
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=1044223

Chibirova Zarina Alekseevna
Vladikavkaz Scientific Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladikavkaz, Russia
North Ossetian Institute for Humanitarian and Social Studies
E-mail: zarinachibirova@mail.ru

Abstract. The idea of decolonization of Russia is not new; the discourse on the need to divide the Russian state into smaller countries has been going on for quite a long time, periodically becoming more prominent, as it was in the 90s. Social networks have been used for many years to influence the internal situation in Russia. After 24th of February, new channels began to appear on Telegram, not just with anti-Russian rhetoric, but a promotion of the idea of «decolonization» of Russia. There are 14 channels focusing on the North Caucasus. One of the main resources is the «Forum of Free States of Post-Russia» and the organization of the same name, which brings together for conferences representatives of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, the Russian opposition and the nationalist movements of the ethnicities of Russia. Qualitative content analysis was part of this study. The historical events of the Caucasian War, the deportation of the 40s, the Chechen War and mobilization are used by «decolonizers» to create a history of the centuries-old genocide of the Caucasian ethnicities by Russia. Accusations of Russia of imperialism and Nazism are interspersed with the creation of maps of future states and disputes over the ownership of a several territories. The biggest disputes flare up between the Circassians, Nogais and Cossacks about the ownership of the Astrakhan and Stavropol regions. The organizers of the «Forum of Free States» insist on the peaceful division of the North Caucasus into a number of states. It is hardly possible to determine the level of influence of these publications on residents of the North Caucasus, but it is necessary to take into account the ability of information to quickly spread across various communities. Further spread of the ideas of «decolonization» within the information field of the North Caucasus is quite possible, because there is a number of unresolved territorial conflicts in the region, which various external forces will continue to use to their advantage.

Keywords: colonialism; decolonization; content analysis; social networks; Telegram channels; North Caucasus; special military operation