Russian opposition journalist Ihor Yakovenko believes that after the war with Ukraine, Russia will fall apart.

The Russian Federation will disintegrate into small states, and the current local elites will be interested in this. 

He told "Apostrophe TV" about it. 

According to Yakovenko, the fate of the Soviet Union awaits today's Russia.

Local elites, who want to gain independence from the Kremlin, are allegedly interested in the disintegration of Russia first.

The Russian oppositionist believes that the process of secession from the Russian Federation may begin first in Tatarstan, which supported independence and secession from Russia back in the 1990s. 

"In 1992, Tatarstan voted by a large majority to become a separate sovereign state. I did a lot of research at the time and can confirm that the sentiment of the vast majority of people - more than 60% - wanted to become an independent state, but they could not do it then, because Russia managed to keep them by force. The First and Second Chechen wars happened just then, and Tatarstan was made to understand that this cannot happen," Yakovenko said. 

In his opinion, if there is such a precedent, then other Russian territories will want to become independent.

This is primarily beneficial to local elites, who can gain access to the resources of their regions and no longer share them with Moscow. 

The collapse of Russia 

Many Western analysts and Russian oppositionists believe that the collapse of Putin's Russia may come after the war. 

Russian publicist Andriy Piontkovskyi said that the disintegration of the Russian Federation has already begun, and everything will continue by inertia.

He believes that the most terrible danger for the Russian Federation during its disintegration is the Far East, because China has plans for it.

The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, believes that 

Russia may fall apart after the war against Ukraine, and then it will be necessary to build relations with several state entities.

Instead of the current Russia, 3-5 new states can be formed on this territory. 

The former commander of the US Ground Forces in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Godges, believes that the scandalous head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and the head of the "Wagner" PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, are preparing for the collapse of Russia, and that is why they are creating their own armies.

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