The Republican Movement of Karelia (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: ''Республиканское движение Карелии'') or Karelian Republican Movement ( Finnish: ''Karjalan Tasavallan Liike''; Karelian: ''Karjalan Tazavallan Liike'') or RMK was a Karelian regionalist and

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

organization founded by a

philosopher and author Vadim Vladimirovich Shtepa and registered in January 2014. The organization became inactive after Vadim Shtepa was arrested in December 2015 and was dissolved in August 2019.

History

The RMK started off as an internet forum about separatism and regionalism in the late 2000s but later registered as a public organization on 10 January 2014. The organization participated in various

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

, such as protests for the transfer of jurisdiction of the

Kizhi Pogost Kizhi Pogost () is a historical site dating from the 17th century on Kizhi island. The island is located on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia (Medvezhyegorsky District), Russia. The pogost is the area inside a fence which includes two large wo ...

back from the Russian Ministry of Culture to the government of the Republic of Karelia and the protest against visa-free travel between

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and Central Asian countries. And protests against the former head of the Republic of Karelia,

Aleksandr Hudilainen Aleksandr Petrovich Hudilainen (, Finnicization, finnicized as ''Aleksanteri Petrovitš Hutilainen'', born May 2, 1956) is a Russian politician. He was the third Head of the Republic of Karelia, Head of the Republic of Karelia, a federal subject ...

. The RMK also focused on expanding and popularizing Karelian culture with projects such as National

Kyykkä Finnish skittles, also known as Karelian skittles, outdoor skittles or ''kyykkä'', is a centuries-old game of Karelian origin. The aim in Finnish Skittles (sport), skittles is to throw wooden skittle bats at skittles, trying to remove them from ...

Assoсiation and Onegaborg radio, which only broadcast songs from Karelia. The organization also had candidates during the 2014

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. ...

city council election but did not secure any seats. On 4 December 2015, Vadim Shtepa was arrested for distribution of extremist materials on the same day an article was posted on Respublika, the news website of the government of the Republic of Karelia, where the Head of the Republic of Karelia,

, condemns Shtepa of

extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied sha ...

, saying that “extremists will have no will either in

or in Karelia”. After this incident, Vadim Shtepa moved to

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. The organization continued to legally exist under the leadership of Emelyanova Ekaterina Valentinovna until its liquidation on 14 August 2019. It was almost completely inactive, but in 2017 the movement introduced three bills to the

Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia The Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia () is the regional parliament of Karelia, a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It consists of 36 deputies who are elected for five-year terms. Between 1994 and 2002, it was ...

, which suggested the use of the languages of the indigenous Baltic-Finnish peoples of Karelia in the ballots during elections, but the proposal was rejected.

Goals

RMK was created as an organization that aimed to gain more autonomy for the Republic of Karelia as a part of the Russian Federation, however, some local journalists and politicians believed that it was separatist in nature. Other goals included the creation of a multi-cultural state of

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, Karelians,

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

Vepsians Veps, or Vepsians (), are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic people who speak the Veps language, which belongs to the Finnic languages, Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. According to the 2002 Russian census, there were 8,240 Veps in Russia. Of t ...

, Zaonezhians,

Pomors The Pomors (, ) are an ethnographic group traditionally thought to be descended from Russian settlers (primarily from Veliky Novgorod) living on the White Sea coasts and nearby regions, with their southern boundary marked by a watershed dividi ...

and other ethnic groups of Karelia; creation of

parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the Executive (government), executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). ...

and diversification of the economy; renaming of streets and cities to more Karelian names; liquidation of "

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

" in Karelia and the law enforcement agencies serving it; revival of the transboundary project "

Euroregion In European politics, the term Euroregion usually refers to a transnational co-operation structure between two (or more) contiguous territories located in different European countries. Euroregions represent a specific type of cross-border regio ...

Karelia"; ecological protection and technological modernization of the country. The organization supported the ideas of

civic nationalism Civic nationalism, otherwise known as democratic nationalism, is a form of nationalism that adheres to traditional liberal values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights, and is not based on ethnocentrism. Civic nationalists ...

and opposed

ethnonationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnostate/ethnocratic) approach to variou ...

. The movement rejected the idea of unifying with

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, seeing it as "a

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

wanting to change its overlord".

References

{{Separatists in Russia Separatism in Russia Regionalism (politics) Nationalist parties in Russia Politics of the Republic of Karelia Organizations disestablished in 2019 Organizations established in 2014 Political parties of minorities in Russia

History

Goals

See also

References