"United Circassia no threat to Russia"
A unified Circassian republic is no threat to the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, a leading Circassian organization says. However, Moscow’s maintenance or even exacerbation of Soviet-imposed divisions could well present the country with serious problems, according to a leading Russian analyst of the North Caucasus. In November 2009, an extraordinary congress of the Circassian people in Karachayevo-Cherkessia adopted a resolution for unification, which Russian officials rejected out of hand. Vladimir Ustinov, presidential plenipotentiary in the Southern Federal District, said the unification of the Circassians would lead to “the dismemberment of the region.” Mukhammed Cherkessov, head of the Adyge Khase organization, stressed that “none of the Cherkess, Kabards, and Adygeys want to leave Russia.” Circassians want to become more integrated in Russia and want ethnic Russians living among them to “remain living on the territory of the republic as a stabilizing factor.” Caucasus analyst Sergey Markedonov suggests that the Circassian “problem” may now get worse: “The harsh technocratic decisions taken by a narrow group of people without discussion or an appreciation of human psychology and ethno-cultural factors can lead not to the desired stabilization but rather toward entirely different outcomes.”
http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2010/01/window-on-eurasia-unified-circassia.html
