Vadim Vladimirovich Shtepa (, ) (born 5 August 1970) is a Russian philosopher, publicist, poet and analyst of Russian regions. Since 2015, he lives in Estonia, where he publishes analytical articles on Russian regions and politics.

Biography

Vadim Shtepa was born in

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022. ...

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

on 5 August 1970. He spent his childhood in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...

, and the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

. Graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. Vadim Shtepa was forced to leave Russia in 2015 after threats of arrest and repression because his comments on the Russian social media platform Vkontake were considered "extremist" by the government of the Republic of Karelia.

Career

In 2006–2008, he wrote a column on

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

’s website, which gave opponents a reason to call him "a true idialogue of ‘ National Orangeism’." From 2009 to 2013, he was a regular contributor to the Russian Journal. According to Igor Sid’s review, Shtepa is one of the leaders and conceptualizers of the Russian intellectual movement for the cultural self-determination of regions. Shtepa also contributed to various Russian news websites, such as

Radio Svoboda Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

and various local Karelian newspapers. 2forum declaration

From 2014 to 2015 he was the head of the Republican Movement of Karelia, a regionalist pro-autonomy organization in the Republic of Karelia. After he was forced to leave Russia he moved to Estonia and continued his work there. In 2019 he became the editor-in-chief of his internet magazine about separatism and regionalism in Russia Region.Expert. Vadim Shtepa also works as an analyst of Russian regions for

Eesti Päevaleht (Estonia Daily) is a major daily Estonian newspaper, from the same publishers as the weekly '' Eesti Ekspress''. Another newspaper under the same name is published weekly in Stockholm, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is ...

Published works

Books

*
ИNBЕРСИЯ
(1998) (Inversion)'' * ''RUТОПИЯ (2004) (Rutopia)'' *

(2008) (Notes of a Rutopist)'' * ''РУССКОЕ БУДУЩЕЕ (2008) (Russian Future)'' * ''ДЕТИ СЕВЕРНОГО ВЕТРА (2011) (Children of the Northern Wind)'' * ''INTERREGNUM, 100 вопросов и ответов о регионализме (2012) (INTERREGNUM, 100 Questions and Answers About Regionalism)'' *
ВОЗМОЖНА ЛИ РОССИЯ ПОСЛЕ ИМПЕРИИ?
(2018) (Is Russia Possible After Empire?)''

Notable online contributions

* '' Agency of Political News'' * ''Russian Journal'' * ''Spektr.Press (Latvia)'' * ''Delfi (Lithuania)'' * ''

Postimees is an Estonian daily newspaper established on 5 June 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1891, it became the first daily newspaper in Estonia. Its current editor-in-chief is Priit Hõbemägi. The paper has approximately 250 employees. ''P ...

(Estonia)'' * '' Russian Forbes'' * '' The New Times'' * ''International Centre for Defence and Security (Estonia)'' * ''

The Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which i ...

(US)'' * ''

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

'' * ''

(Estonia)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shtepa, Vadim 1970 births Living people Russian journalists 20th-century Russian philosophers 21st-century Russian philosophers Separatism in Russia Russian emigrants to Estonia