KBR scientists speak out against amendments to Russian Constitution

Employees of the Institute for Humanitarian Studies (IHS) of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) have criticized the amendments to the Russian Constitution for the wording of support for compatriots and the state-forming nation.

A statement by the staff of the KBR's IHS was posted on March 7 on the website of the NGO "KBR's Regional Human Rights Centre".

The statement of 13 IHS scientists expresses their protest against the initiative of the Russian President to amend the current Constitution.

The scientists have especially criticized the proposal that "the Russian Federation provides support to its compatriots living abroad in exercising their rights, ensuring protection of their interests and preservation of the all-Russian cultural identity," treating it as discriminatory.

"The end of the wording, declaring the need for support only of those compatriots who preserve the 'all-Russian cultural identity', is in fact excluding from the concept of compatriots millions of Circassians, Tatars, Kalmyks and other nationals, whose republics, along with other entities form the Russian Federation," the statement asserts.

It also treats as unacceptable, and contrary to the spirit of federalism, the principles of human rights and freedoms, the right of nations to self-determination, as fixed in the current Constitution of Russia, a suggested attempt to establish the only "state-forming nation" of the country. "We affirm that all the nations of the Russian Federation, without exception, are state-forming," the signatories of the statement have emphasized.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 7, 2020 at 08:05 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.