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Home , Separatism, Transnistrian passport

Separatism redux , , and Eurasia’s de facto states

Michael S. Bobick Recent events in Kiev and Russian military actions in the the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States The author is a Postdoctoral Crimea have brought up topics that emerged with the dis- (1933) articulates four features a state should possess as Fellow at the Center for Russian and East European solution of the : separatism, self-determina- a subject of international law: a permanent population, a Studies and the Department tion, and the question of how to define a ‘people’. This defined territory, a , and the capacity to enter of Anthropology, University article investigates separatism in the former Soviet Union into relations with other states.5 Similarly, the Badinter of Pittsburgh. His email is [email protected]. in order to clarify what this phenomenon is, what its goals Arbitration Committee defines a state as a community are, and how it occurs ‘on the ground’. with a territory and a population subject to an organized To address these topics I compare recent events in political authority that is sovereign (Pellet 1992: 182). Crimea to Transnistria, a de facto separatist state located in Yet both explicitly state that recognition is not constitu- eastern . Transnistria first declared its independ- tive: Article 3 of the Montevideo Convention says that ence in 1990 and has been a de facto state ever since. In ‘the political existence of the state is independent of rec- this article I ask what Transnistria can tell us about Crimea, ognition by the other states. Even before recognition the and, more broadly, what Eurasia’s de facto states can tell state has the right to defend its integrity and independ- us about statehood, , and a ‘people’ in the 21st ence, to provide for its conservation and prosperity, and century. consequently to organize itself as it sees fit, to legislate For the purposes of this article, I use the term de facto upon its interests, administer its services, and to define the states (i.e. states in fact) to refer to polities that exist within jurisdiction and competence of its courts’.6 Similarly, the the boundaries of recognized, de jure (i.e. by law) states.1 Badinter Arbitration Committee states that ‘the existence This article argues that performativity lies at the core of or disappearance of the state is a question of fact; that the Fig. 1. Transnistrian coat Eurasia’s de facto states. Specifically, I argue that the elab- effects of recognition by other states are purely declara- of arms. oration of a ‘people’ is based on Russian military tactics tory’ (Pellet 1992: 182). In other words, recognition is not that enable the performance of de facto statehood as well a legal act, and, consequently, the existence of the state is as on the articulation of a unique form of identity a question of fact, not law. Performativity addresses the based around the idea of protecting ethnic ‘compatriots’ issue of what constitutes a ‘government’ and ‘organized residing outside of . political authority’, as well as whether the population is I would like to After a theoretical introduction, I describe events that ‘subject to’ and accepts that authority. acknowledge the Cornell occurred in Transnistria and Crimea in order to discern For enterprising state-builders and their patrons, these Institute for European Studies, the US Fulbright their commonalities. Next, I address some of the threats features can be elaborated and assembled to create an entity Commission, and IREX for and fears of populations who become the constituent that looks and acts like a state but which is actually, upon generously supporting my ‘people’ of these de facto states. In particular, I examine closer inspection, a vehicle for furthering Russian geopo- field research. I would also like to thank the University how Russian military intervention enables the perfor- litical interests. What remains of primary importance in de of Pittsburgh’s Center for mance of their de facto statehood. After a description of facto states is the performative nature of the state and the Russian and East European the local effects of separatism, I offer some thoughts about degree of cohesion it creates by changing the facts on the Studies and the Department how these de facto states reflect some wider conceptual ground. The People’s declared its inde- of Anthropology for giving me the time and resources to and theoretical concerns that emerged after the pendence on 7 April 2014 and held a referendum scarcely a write this article. of the Soviet Union.2 month later on 11 May 2014. Though the results of this ref- erendum were predictably in favour of from Sovereignty and state/ , the fact that it occurred is what matters. After What is sovereignty, and what role does it play vis-à-vis the referendum, the basic conditions of statehood can be the state and nation? In the 21st century, the state is the fulfilled. Tellingly, Russia has pledged to respect the ‘will political institution in which sovereignty is embodied, of the people’ (Miller 2014). Post-referendum, the conflict while the larger assemblage of states constitutes the system of sovereign states (Rée 1992). Sovereignty is the attribute of an effective state, yet it can be an illusion of a non-effective (though recognized) state. Sovereignty refers to governance, but on behalf of what sovereign body? Typically, a state acts as a sovereign entity on behalf of the people. Ernst Renan’s 1882 essay, ‘What is a nation?’ examines the historical and, as he terms them, spiritual factors underlying the nation.3 In Renan’s formulation, the nation is an everyday phenomenon that contributes to its continued existence: ‘The existence of the nation … is a daily plebiscite, just as the continuing existence of an individual is a perpetual affirmation of life’ (Renan 1990: 53). Renan’s stress on a nation’s internal consistency is analogous to state sovereignty vis-à-vis international law: the existence of the state is a matter of fact, and the effects of recognition by other states are purely declaratory. In Transnistria and in Crimea, a people and, by extension, a nation, is reinforced by not only a daily plebiscite, but called forth by an actual plebiscite backed by coercive force.4 Similarly, the Ukranian state is trying to enact its sovereignty by force as well. Fig. 2. Map of Transnistria bordering Moldova and Eurasia’s de facto challenge international law by high-

Ukraine. lighting the ill-defined threshold for statehood. Article 1 of 3.0 SPIRIDON ION CEPLEANU / CC BY-SA

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY VOL 30 NO 3, JUNE 2014 3 is no longer between Ukraine and individuals or groups ‘compatriots’, rather than any other international organi- challenging its authority, but between two polities, one rec- zations with experience in protecting minority rights in 1. The former Soviet Union’s de facto states are ognized, the other not. Both see themselves as sovereign. Europe and Eurasia. Transnistria (Moldova), According to international law, both are sovereign if they During President Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly (), can successfully exercise authority in the contested territo- in 2005, he called upon Russians to recall ‘Russia’s most (Georgia), and Nagorno-Karabakh ries – this is what is now being tested. A few flags, occu- recent history’. (). Given Crimea’s pied buildings, and a made-to-order referendum do much Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the by the Russian to legitimize an otherwise tenuous claim to statehood. Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. , it is perhaps De facto states raise the question as to whether the exist- As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of more appropriately referred ence of the state is a formal condition proclaimed by out- millions of our co-citizens and compatriots found themselves to as a territory administered 9 by Russia yet claimed by siders, or a condition of effective governance of a defined outside Russian territory. Ukraine. One must remember territory, with a population that is accepting of being sub- Putin’s comments on this ‘genuine drama’ are particu- that law is the creation of a state. If a state no longer ject to that governance. Transnistria and Crimea illustrate larly relevant to recent events in Ukraine. Russians living exercises power over the how sovereignty becomes a natural right for any entity outside of Russia constitute a category of people that under territory and its people, there seeking to form a state – it is the universal of Russian law can and should be protected by the Russian is no de jure sovereignty there human rights applied to state formation.7 Just as human state. The law ‘On State of the Russian Federation any longer. 2. This paper emerges rights become a tool wielded by states to suit a state’s own with respect to Compatriots Abroad’ defines compatriots from 18 months of fieldwork interests, Russia uses these de facto states’ quest for sov- as ‘people living in other states deriving from some eth- in Transnistria from 2008- ereignty as a means of strengthening its strategic interests. nicity that has historically resided in Russia’, along with 2010. My ethnographic research in Transnistria was Separatism occurs when a subset of a state’s population people who have ‘made a free choice to be spiritually, cul- 10 diverse, and included formal declares their independence in defiance of the de jure state. turally and legally linked to the Russian Federation’. and informal interviews with In Eurasia, the impetus for separation varies widely and can According to the above-cited law, this ‘choice’ may take Kremlin-sponsored youth include some or all of the following characteristics: actual a variety of forms, including ‘an act of self-identification, movements, NGOs (non- governmental organizations), or potential linguistic disenfranchisement (Transnistria reinforced by social or professional activity for the pres- political activists, local and Ukraine); persecution at the hands of an ‘illegitimate’ ervation of Russian language, the native languages of the activists involved in national government (Moldova, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, peoples of the Russian Federation, the development of the earliest movements 11 for statehood, political Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ukraine); economic inequality Russian culture abroad …’ Are compatriots free to choose technologists, Transnistrian (often the separatist region subsidizes the state they wish to exist as such, or is this category ascribed to them? The intellectuals (professors to secede from, as was the case in Transnistria); and vio- variation within this term is not unlike the ‘people’ who and graduate students), and lence, both actual and imagined (to a degree common to all are the constituent holders of sovereignty (Derrida 1986) state bureaucrats. My field research was supplemented of Eurasia’s de facto states). in the West. How Russia recognizes and formalizes this by interviews conducted With each of Eurasia’s de facto states – Transnistria, indeterminacy constitutes the core element of separatism with government officials South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and the as a political technology. and public intellectuals in Moldova. For a full contested territory of Crimea – one may discern the description of my field involvement by the Russian Federation. Humanitarian Separatism and the Soviet state: Notes from research, see Bobick (2012: intervention by the Russian military allows the Russian Moldova 46-47). state to ‘stabilize’ these conflicts and provide further The events in Crimea are remarkably similar to events that 3. I am indebted to Bob Hayden for pointing out economic, political, and diplomatic support to them. occurred in Moldova in the early 1990s. Moldova expe- the similarities between ‘Compatriots’, sootechestvenniki, living in these de facto rienced a brief but bloody conflict in 1992 as authorities Renan and the concept of states often hold Russian , speak Russian, and from the newly independent Republic of Moldova sought performative sovereignty. 4. On his ‘direct line’ consider themselves to be culturally Russian. to assert their sovereignty over Transnistria, a strip of call-in show, the Russian During fieldwork in Transnistria, residents stressed land located east of the Dniester River. Residents of this president, Vladimir Putin for the region’s ethnic diversity as a pre-Soviet phenom- territory have seen themselves as a separate state since the first time explicitly stated enon dating to Imperial Russian rule. Though a majority they declared their independence from the Moldovan that Russian forces were involved in the annexation of of the Transnistrian population is not ethnically Russian, Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) in 1990. With this Crimea (Lally 2014). Transnistrian historiography emphasizes the region’s initial declaration, residents hoped to become a new con- 5. ‘Convention on Rights common history with Russia.8 For pensioners, Transnistria stituent republic of the USSR. Yet since its 1990 seces- and Duties of States (inter- American); December 26, is the internationalist heir to the Soviet state, while sion, Transnistria has existed as an international orphan, 1933’. http://avalon.law.yale. younger Transnistrians have been conditioned to see acting and claiming to be a state but without international edu/20th_century/intam03.asp Transnistria as a part of an Orthodox-Slavic civilization recognition. (accessed 12 May 2014). explicitly opposed to a European one. Ongoing Russian From December 1989 to November 1990, Transnistrian 6. Ibid. 7. The People’s Republic support and the adoption of a Russian curriculum further residents voted in a series of referenda that sought to of Donetsk’s 11 May stresses the region’s ‘Russianness’ as existing in opposi- increase local autonomy as a bulwark against Moldovan referendum (‘Do you support tion to Moldova, viewed as a foreign, nationalizing state. . Transnistria was Russophone, industrialized, the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic?’) Eurasian separatist movements appeal to the law and and the home of the 14th Soviet Army (King 2000: 183). is – according to Denis common sense, but from where do these claims to legality These steps stood in contrast to most of Moldova, which Pushilin, co-chairman of the emerge? Two demands of separatists in Ukraine and sought closer cultural and political ties with Romania. Donetsk People’s Republic’s Moldova – the right to secede and to hold a referendum Through a referendum campaign, regional and municipal presidium – on sovereignty, which would give the republic – were enshrined in Soviet law. and referenda councils in Transnistria sought a popular mandate for dis- the right and opportunity are political acts, and recognition of their validity is also engagement (Mason 2009). Transnistria’s secession was to establish confederative a political act, not a legal one. Formally, Soviet originally an attempt at preservation: residents sought to relations with other states, or ‘to stay an independent could secede, enter into foreign relations, and administer save the Soviet Union by revitalizing its federal structure. republic that [sic] is certainly their territory, but other elements such as statehood, sov- Transnistrians moved to create a separate political hardly [sic] probably, but ereignty, and autonomy were constitutional fictions that existence from the MSSR after the passage of a contro- there will be such [sic] became possible with the collapse of the Soviet state versial 1989 Moldovan language law, which (1) declared opportunity in theory’. Independence is, for Pushilin, (Brubaker 1996: 30). Moldovan the state language of the republic; (2) man- a temporary placeholder Why Russia’s sudden concern with its ‘compatriots’ dated the transition to the Latin alphabet; (3) recognized (ITAR-TASS 2014). abroad? Military intervention on behalf of ‘compatriots’ the unity of the Moldovan and Romanian languages; and 8. The Transnistrian capital Tiraspol was founded by constitutes tangible steps by Russia to restore its influence (4) laid out a programme for extending its use in govern- the famed Russian general, in its near abroad. Though masked in a humanitarian guise, ment, education, and other related spheres (Ciscel 2007: Alexander Suvorov in 1792. the Russian military protects and guarantees the rights of 42; King 2000: 186).

4 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY VOL 30 NO 3, JUNE 2014 MICHAEL BOBICK MICHAEL MICHAEL BOBICK MICHAEL MARCO FIEBER AUDUN KJØRSTAD SAH MKSYMENKO MARCO FIEBER (from left to right, above to below) Fig. 3. Sevastopol, Crimea, home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Fig. 4. Military parade in Tiraspol, Transnistria, October 2009. Fig. 5. Advertisement for Crimean vacations, Tiraspol, Transnistria. Fig. 6. Memorial ‘Glory’ in Tiraspol, Transnistria. Fig. 7. Lenin statue in front of the Transnistrian parliament, Tiraspol, Transnistria. Fig. 8. Military conflict, Crimea, March 2014. Fig. 9. Demarcated border, Crimea, March 2014. SAH MKSYMENKO

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY VOL 30 NO 3, JUNE 2014 5 9. ‘Annual address to During fieldwork, activists involved in the earliest a subsequent blockade of Ukrainian military and naval the Federal Assembly of the movement for independence stressed that this attempt installations created a patchwork of competing sovereign- Russian Federation’. 25 April 2005. The Kremlin, Moscow. to debunk the idea of a separate Moldovan language ties in which coercive force (‘self-defence’ forces and http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/ and culture was the first step toward reunification with ‘little green men’) diminished Ukraine’s ability to exert speeches/2005/04/25/2031_ Romania.12 Transnistrians viewed this shift away from control and maintain order. Existing Russian military type70029type82912_87086. Soviet (Russophone) norms as ‘Romanianization’, a phe- and naval installations in Crimea led to confusion as to shtml (accessed 28 March 2014). nomenon that threatened non-Romanian speakers with whether these ‘little green men’ were legally allowed to be 10. Federal Law ‘On persecution, disenfranchisement, and death (Bobick 2011). there according to the terms of a 2010 basing agreement. State Policy of the Russian Violence directed at Russian speakers in Moldovan cities, In Transnistria, the Russian military did not seize infra- Federation with respect to Compatriots Abroad’ http:// increasingly shrill nationalist rhetoric (‘Suitcase, train sta- structure; residents blockaded roads, railways and other rs.gov.ru/node/658 (accessed tion – to Russia!’) and armed attempts by the Moldovan transit points. 26 March 2014). state to assert its sovereignty over Transnistria contributed Next, self-determination must occur – a ‘people’ must 11. Ibid. to a heightened sense of threat internalized by residents. be created in order to proclaim their sovereignty. The 12. The idea of Moldovan as a separate language, culture, During an interview in 2008, one elderly newly installed Crimean authorities hastily organized a and people different from activist asserted that only Russian intervention averted referendum on 16 March 2014, when nearly 97 per cent Romanian played a large a ‘’. Ongoing Russian support for Transnistria of those (voter turnout was 83 per cent) supported role in the creation of Soviet Moldova. Martin (2001: 225) keeps this nascent genocide at bay. integration with Russia (RT 2014). This referendum was describes this ‘Piedmont Today the Transnistrian state includes a tripartite gov- also a political performance directed to Crimea’s nascent Principle’ as an attempt to ernment: an army and police force; a territory delineated constituents and to the Kremlin. Though Crimean ‘inde- exploit cross-border ethnic ties by borders that it maintains, secures, and regulates; and a pendence’ disappeared four days later when Putin ratified to undermine neighbouring states. ‘national’ economy with its own currency and tax system. the inclusion of Crimea and Sevastopol as new units of 13. I thank one of the The Transnistrian state issues various documents, including the Russian Federation, the important step of self-determi- anonymous reviewers for birth certificates, passports, residency permits, and mar- nation had been performed and was, according to official clarifying this point. 14. The Russian Foreign riage certificates. A Transnistrian is required to results, wildly successful. Ministry has repeatedly purchase a mobile phone, hook up utilities, open a bank Above all, what is important in the Russian annexa- stressed that any solution to account, obtain internal registration (propiska), enrol in tion is the theatrical narrative that preceded annexation. the Transnistrian conflict must school, receive healthcare, or register property transactions. An occupation had to be staged on humanitarian grounds take into account the territorial integrity of the Republic of If they wish to leave Moldova, Transnistrians must hold a – who or what these forces were protecting and from Moldova. foreign passport. Out of an official population of 550,000, what remained unclear – and self-determination occurred 15. Zaiavlenie MID Rossii approximately 200-300,000 residents hold Moldovan citi- under the watchful eye of masked men with guns (Dunn v sviazii s tragicheskimi sobytiiami v Donetske. 14 zenship; holders range from 100,000 to & Bobick 2014). Similarly to Transnistria, Crimea illus- March 2014. http://www.mid. 140,000, and between 70,000 and 90,000 hold Ukrainian trates how this performative sovereignty lies at the core of ru/brp_4.nsf/newsline/6F745 passports. The vast majority of Transnistrian state officials a somewhat contradictory through which B0774C71C9644257C9B00 hold Russian passports (Allin 2009). a ‘people’ is constructed.13 This ephemeral ‘people’ is both 362EB6 (accessed 26 March 2014). Transnistria’s de facto statehood is only possible because nationally unique yet culturally and linguistically Russian. 16. This phrase is not of Russian military and financial support (1,500 Russian intended to set any threshold troops serve as peacekeepers in the region). Moldova’s Nationalism, public order, and provocations of support, but rather to show that the collective consensus neutrality is enshrined in its constitution, yet it must Viewing separatism as a process wholly directed by appears, at least officially, to accept the presence of these Russian troops who thwart Russia obscures the real fears of minorities in national- support de facto existence. Moldova’s European aspirations (Dunn & Bobick 2014). izing states. The fundamental texts of nation-states tend This consensus is reached, European efforts to transform the peacekeeping mission to privilege one ethnic nation over others. This constitu- predictably, through a variety of practical and ideological to an international, civilian mandate have thus far failed. tional nationalism (Hayden 1992: 68) exists in opposition manipulations as well as self- Far from being a neutral force, Russia occupies the role of to decades of enforced Soviet internationalism. The Soviet censorship. There is dissent, aggressor and peacekeeper, which marginalizes Moldovan Union’s explicit internationalism and its nationality policy but few practical channels for expressing it, save emigration. attempts to re-assert its sovereignty over the region. (Hirsch 2005) was not simply an ideology, but the basis for engaging the Soviet state and its institutions, whose cat- The Crimean scenario egories permeated individual and collective social bodies. In Crimea, one can see similar pretexts for intervention In Transnistria, internationalism was important in that build upon the Transnistrian template. In both of these a region where no single nationality dominated. Even cases, a sudden power shift to a ‘nationalist’ government today, Russians, Ukrainians, and Moldovans each make alienated those who see themselves as ethnically or linguis- up nearly a third of the population. Transnistria’s urban, tically outside of the nation. This perceived threat, coupled multi-ethnic populace was largely Russophone. In 1992, with Russian military backing, creates the conditions for as the nascent Transnistrian state institutions attempted to the emergence of a hitherto non-existing nation. Next, con- consolidate their power in the region, Transnistrian forces stituent holders of sovereignty are called forth through the (an ethnically-mixed group of residents, non-standard most democratic of all processes, the referendum. Finally, military forces, foreign volunteers, and Cossacks) fought Russia stabilizes the situation with a one-sided peace a brief war with Moldovan forces (Bobick 2012). The 14th agreement (Transnistria), annexation (Crimea), or interna- Soviet Army, based in Transnistria, decisively intervened tional recognition (Abkhazia and South Ossetia). on behalf of the separatists to defeat Moldovan forces. The first step in creating a de facto state involved After a Russian-brokered peace, Russian military forces breaking the de jure state’s Weberian monopoly on the were legalized under the guise of a peacekeeping mis- legitimate use of force. After the Ukrainian president, sion. This quick victory and subsequent peace allowed Yanukovych fled Kiev, pro-Russian protesters blockaded Transnistrians to claim victory and secure Russian support the Crimean parliament in Simferopol, which was later for their de facto state.14 occupied by pro-Russian gunmen. During an emergency The ‘undeclared war’ with Moldova became a founda- session under armed guard, the Crimean parliament voted tional element for the Transnistrian state and today takes to terminate the Crimean government and installed a new the form of a collective trauma internalized by residents pro-Russian leadership. Unmarked military forces – ‘little and reiterated in a variety of settings. The 1992 war is green men’ (Yurchak 2014), who later turned out, unsur- analogous to the Great Patriotic War for the Transnistrian prisingly, to be Russian soldiers – seized airports and state – it is a fundamental event upon which it bases its transport infrastructure. This seizure of infrastructure and legitimacy (Babilunga & Bomeshko 1993). Transnistrian

6 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY VOL 30 NO 3, JUNE 2014 Fig. 10. Local pro- Russian social movement ‘breakthrough!’, Transnistria.

Allin, L. 2009. Presentation on frozen conflicts. 14 November. American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. Boston, Massachusetts. Babilunga, N. & B. Bomeshko 1993. Bender: Shots unbowed. Tiraspol, Moldova: Scientific Research Lab for the

History of the Transnistrian ZOLLER RAYMOND Region. Bilaniuk, L. 2005. Contested elites cite Moldovan aggression as an ongoing mandate war against Georgia, the Russian army has established an tongues: Language politics for a separate state, which above all protects its citizens. administrative boundary line with barbed wire, military and cultural correction The causes and origins of this war have never been clearly installations, snipers’ nests, and newly constructed roads in Ukraine. Ithaca, NY: ascertained. Veterans I interviewed from both sides spoke and patrol paths (Dunn 2012). Cornell University Press. Bobick, M. 2011. Profits of of uncertainty, provocations, and of the ‘artificial’ nature In Crimea, there is a reason that bunkers and check- disorder: Images of the of the conflict. These soldiers, at war during daylight, points suddenly proliferated, and that airports and the Transnistrian Moldovan would drink wine together in the evenings. The first vic- ferry terminal at Kerch were taken over. These points Republic. Global Crime 12(4): 239-265. tims of this ‘undeclared war’ were killed while storming facilitate not only the movement of troops and arms, but — 2012. Performative government institutions loyal to the central government filter unwanted individuals. The Ukrainian government sovereignty: State formation in Chisinau. In other words, their actions are remark- has no means of entering, much less asserting control over in the Transnistrian ably similar to those of the Crimean ‘self-defence’ forces: Crimea. By diminishing Ukrainian sovereignty, Crimean Moldovan Republic. PhD dissertation, Department they surrounded Ukrainian forces and attempted to pro- separatists and their Russian backers create a prolonged of Anthropology, Cornell voke them into a fight in which they were outgunned and period of uncertainty in which their original claims of University. outnumbered. discrimination and violence may emerge, either through Brubaker, R. 1996. Nationalism reframed: Fears of seceding people are not necessarily unreason- a further deterioration of an already tense situation or Nationhood and the able. Local, pro-secession politicians gain political capital through organized provocations. Ukraine’s fledgling national question in the by virtue of the less than encouraging actions of national government will remain unstable, which will create fur- new Europe. Cambridge: leaders. Recently in Ukraine, the proposed abolishment ther uncertainty insofar as their claims to be the lawful Cambridge University Press. of a 2012 language law allowing the use of minority lan- Ukrainian government have already been questioned and Chomsky, N. 2000. Rogue guages led to a worsening of relations between authorities undermined by Russia. Russian authorities remain vigilant states: The rule of force in in Kiev and Crimea, which was later invaded, occupied, of any perceived threats to its compatriots. world affairs. Cambridge, MA: South End Press. and annexed by Russia. In Moldova, armed conflict linked The Russian Foreign Ministry’s response to clashes Ciscel, M.H. 2007. The linguistic disenfranchisement to marginalization at best, between pro-Russian demonstrators and pro-Ukrainian language of the Moldovans. and to annexation by Romania at worst. forces in the eastern city of Donetsk in March 2014 that Lanham, Maryland: Putin’s claim that Russian-speakers in Ukraine are left two dead, illustrates the degree to which any blood- Lexington Books. Derrida, J. 1986. Declarations essentially Russians, and therefore the legitimate concern shed risks escalation: ‘Russia is aware of its responsibility of independence. New of the Russian state, is based on at best an oversimplifi- for the lives of fellow citizens in Ukraine and reserves the 7(1): 7-15. cation, and at worst, a deliberate mischaracterization of right to take the people under its protection’.15 — 2005. Rogues: Two essays on reason. Stanford: the relationship between language, identity, and culture The course of events leading to Crimea’s annexation Press. in Ukraine. Bilingualism is widespread in Ukraine, and illustrate how Russia intervenes on behalf of ‘compatriots’ Dillon, W.S. 2003. Gifts and dividing the country according to ethnicity and language and adopts military tactics for the sake of performing de : The obligation to in and of itself is problematic not only because there is no facto statehood. In this sense, the performative nature give, receive and repay. Edison, NJ: Transaction unitary relation between ethnicity and language, but also of the Russian incursion is particularly illuminating. Publishers. because many Ukrainians do not define themselves solely At first, these soldiers – described by the Russian gov- Dunn, E.C. 2012. The chaos in ethnic or linguistic terms (Bilaniuk 2005). ernment as ‘self-defence forces’ – operated unofficially, of humanitarian aid: in the Republic without insignia, though their Russian military licence of Georgia. Humanity 3(1): Performative sovereignty and the daily plates said otherwise. Having been unmasked as Russian, 1-23. plebiscite they enabled the new Crimean authorities to perform the — & M. Bobick 2014. The How do these performances become the basis for a de facto constituent actions of any sovereign – creating a ‘people’ strikes back: War without war and occupation state? In situations in which the Russian military intervenes around which the institutions of government can develop. without occupation in the in these contested territories, intervention occurs, not in This happened on 16 March 2014, when residents voted Russian sphere of influence. order to achieve a decisive victory, but rather to keep the for reunification with Russia. Yet after the referendum the American Ethnologist (forthcoming). de jure sovereign at bay. This happened during the 1992 performance cannot stop – the new Crimean authorities Galeotti, M. 2004. The war between Transnistria and Moldova, when locals loyal must begin performing core government functions. Transdnistrian connection: to separatists began taking over Moldovan police stations De facto states’ sovereignty operates both in terms of Big problems from a small and government buildings. This too occurred in Crimea, the performance of government functions and at the level pseudo-state. Global Crime 6(3-4): 398-405. and is happening in eastern Ukraine as well. De facto of Renan’s daily plebiscite. Engaging (and believing, or at Hayden, R. 1992. separation entails delimiting and fortifying the ill-defined least tolerating) the de facto state and affirming its exist- Constitutional nationalism borders of the nascent polity, the boundaries of which will ence allows residents see themselves as sovereign; they in the formerly Yugoslav republics. Slavic Review later be formalized, as was the case in Transnistria and perform it well enough to convince themselves of their right 51(4): 654-673. in Georgia. In Transnistria, a security zone bracketed by to existence. According to international law, this perfor- Hirsch, F. 2005. Empire of Russian and Moldovan soldiers in observation towers, mance is what creates sovereignty. For Transnistria, acting nations: Ethnographic tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and camouflaged and pretending to be a state has proven to be a durable knowledge and the making of the Soviet Union. Ithaca: machine gun nests serves as a buffer for the unofficial means of organizing the polity. It remains to be seen what Cornell University Press. border between Transnistria and Moldova. After the 2008 will happen in Crimea. Time is on the separatists’ side.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY VOL 30 NO 3, JUNE 2014 7 ITAR-TASS 2014. East These entities exist only because one state continues to can embody a phenomenon long within the purview of Ukraine’s Donetsk republic claim sovereignty over a territory where someone else is political science: geopolitics. During field research in plans to hold sovereignty actually performing it, with enough popular support that it Transnistria (2008-2009) and sporadic ethnographic incur- referendum jointly with Luhansk. 24 April. is unlikely residents of the de facto state would accede to sions in Crimea (2008), Georgia (2008), and http://en.itar-tass.com/ the de jure sovereign.16 From an international position of (2011-2012), people consistently stressed the geopolitical world/729337 (accessed 24 power, de facto states are dismissed as illegitimate rogues importance of their . In these very different April 2014). King, C. 2000. The Moldovans: (Bobick 2011; Chomsky 2000; Derrida 2005; Galeotti areas, individuals spoke of geopolitics as a reason for their Romania, Russia, and the 2004). The local perspective, however, is more nuanced. ongoing importance. These claims reflect a desire to (re) politics of culture. Stanford, inscribe themselves in a new world’s order. This order CA: Hoover Institution Local perspectives on separatism offers no firm conceptual designations; paradox, contra- Press. Lally, K. 2014. Putin’s remarks Separatism has its benefits. In Transnistria, in addition to diction, and conspiracy are its means of creating coherence raise fears of future moves citizenship, the Russian Federation provides significant for those living amidst Eurasia’s enduring liminality-at- against Ukraine. The symbolic and material benefits, primarily humanitarian large. In this sense, de facto states are not peripheral out- Washington Post, 17 April. http://www.washingtonpost. and economic aid to an otherwise moribund economy. liers, but entities that complicated a worldview in which com/world/putin-changes- Locals reciprocate in the only way they can: by professing the field of politics can be described with an accepted- course-admits-russian- loyalty to Russia. Russia has essentially given the ultimate upon conceptual vocabulary. troops-were-in-crimea- gift (Mauss 1990; Dillon 2003), not only a state, but an Post-Soviet separatist movements illustrate how geopo- before-vote/2014/04/17/ b3300a54-c617-11e3-bf7a- existence as recognized subjects (‘compatriots’) of the litical ideas – , autonomy, neutrality, self-deter- be01a9b69cf1_story.html Russian Federation, a rising superpower and heir to the mination – can become the basis for new subjectivities. (accessed 24 April 2014). Soviet Union. Given the profound loss associated with As the constituent peoples of de facto states uncritically Losurdo, D. 2014. Liberalism: A counter history. : the demise of the Soviet Union, reciprocation becomes an invoke these terms to support claims made on their behalf Verso. obligation for ‘compatriots’ living an otherwise peripheral (e.g. Russia’s insistence of Ukraine’s federalization and Martin, T. 2001. Affirmative existence outside of Russia. neutrality), these terms come to challenge the status quo, action empire: Nations and The murky jurisdictional terrain of de facto states allows which becomes increasingly untenable. These subjec- nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939. Ithaca: for illicit privatizations and monopolies to form with the tivities and identities, initially cultivated by the Russian Cornell University Press. explicit backing of local authorities (Bobick 2011). The state as a means of weakening Moldovan and Ukrainian Mason, J.A. 2009. sudden seizure of Ukrainian assets, most notably the valu- sovereignty, are embodied and performed by individuals Internationalist mobilization during the collapse of able energy firms Chornomornaftogaz and Ukrtransgaz, and institutions. The ideological foundations of these the Soviet Union: The illustrates the degree to which these incursions create the geopolitical divisions are obscured by local demands and Moldovan of conditions for capital accumulation ( 2014). This grievances against the central government, while the latent 1990. Nationalities Papers seizure and likely sale to Gazprom will further increase the idea of empire slowly shifts the geographic boundaries 37(2): 159-176. Mauss, M. 1990. The gift. New ability of Russia to wage an energy war against unfriendly of Europe and Eurasia. Amidst this shifting conceptual York: W.W. Norton. countries. basis, territories are conquered not through brute force, Miller, C.J. 2014. Separatists More broadly, the shift from Ukrainian to Russian rule but through tactical incursions that enable sovereignty boast of victory as Putin says he will respect the outcome in Crimea will require a wholesale re-titling of property and self-determination to be performed. Far from waging of bogus referendum. and tax assessment, which will likely occur, as in much a war, residents of de facto states are merely expressing Kyiv Post, 12 May 2014. of the former Soviet Union, under less than transparent their desires through the most democratic of all institu- http://www.kyivpost. circumstances. In Transnistria, similar processes have tions, the referendum. Though the results of referenda are com/multimedia/photo/ separatists-boast-of-victory- occurred. Russian oligarchs own the most profitable local predetermined, what is important is that it occurred and its as-putin-says-he-will- enterprises. These same oligarchs use Russian subsi- results can serve as the basis for subsequent performances respect-outcome-of-bogus- dies – the region’s discounted natural gas, conveniently of sovereignty. referendum-347508.html (accessed 12 May 2014). billed to the Republic of Moldova – to enrich themselves. Broadly stated, it is not the practices and concepts of Pellet, A. 1992. The opinions In this way, separatism creates a system whereby eve- liberal that will bring Russia closer to the West, of the Badinter Arbitration rybody appears to benefit, whether it takes the form of as many believed after the Soviet collapse, but the illiberal Committee. European Russian pension supplements (an extra US$15 per month practices of the Soviet era that have come to infuse liber- Journal of International Law 3: 178-185. in Transnistria), energy subsidies, corrupt state officials, or alism (Losurdo 2014). The leaders and elites of Eurasia’s Rée, J. 1992. Internationality. nationalist politicians in the Russian Duma who raise their unrecognized states champion national self-determination, Radical Philosophy 60: profile by supporting ‘compatriots’. while the states in which they reside stress the need for 3-11. Renan, E. 1990 [1882]. What For minority populations with an existential unease stability. In the face of these incompatible principles, these is a nation? In Bhabha, H.K. in nationalizing states, asserting an existence in opposi- entities illustrate the uncomfortable precedents and double (ed.). Nation and narration. tion to the de jure state offers a sense of order and under- standards that allow for recognition of some states yet London: Routledge. standing that disappeared along with the Soviet state. The deny it to others. Attempts to delegitimize these entities Reuters 2014. Crimea eyes energy firm militarization of Transnistrian society – ranging from the or to discern their artificiality obscures their communality privatization, possible language used to describe those who live ‘over there’ in with our own existence as political subjects. sale to Russia. 14 April. Moldova to the actual military checkpoints that buttress its Crimea and Transnistria illustrate the very real concep- http://www.reuters.com/ article/2014/03/14/ukraine- borders – creates a siege mentality in which any changes or tual slippage of the foundational terms of contemporary crisis-crimea-privatisation- attempts to normalize relations can be perceived through politics. Freedom, equality, democracy, self-determina- idUSL6N0M92GE20140314 a militarized vocabulary of blockades, incursions, and tion, and intervention are fundamental political concepts (accessed 25 April 2014). provocations. This militarization enables previously mar- of the 20th century, yet in the 21st century what we are RT 2014. Crimea declared independence, seeks UN ginal political actors to create the constituent holders of witnessing is their ongoing (re)definition. Far from being recognition. 17 March. sovereignty – a ‘people’ – and later, the institutions of gov- concepts with a common basis in reality, their flexible http://rt.com/news/ ernment. In the process, a whole host of assorted funda- reimagining in Eurasia’s de facto states illustrates their crimea-referendum-results- official-250/ (accessed 24 mentals – citizenship, sovereignty, and self-determination indeterminacy. The West intervenes on behalf of prin- April 2014). – shift, consciously or not, to new facts, based, as it were, ciples, while Russia intervenes to further their strategic Yurchak, A. 2014. Little on performances supported by, enabled by, and directed goals. Given the absence of the Cold War as a stabilizing green men: Russia, toward a carefully cultivated audience. reference point, we are left to comprehend our own uncer- Ukraine, and post-Soviet sovereignty. Anthropoliteia. tain moment with political concepts that have long lost http://anthropoliteia. Conclusion their referents. In this sense Russia’s humanitarian inter- net/2014/03/31/ little-green- What conclusions can be drawn from Eurasia’s de facto vention and support for self-determination should not be men-russia-ukraine-and- post-soviet-sovereignty/ states? These polities illustrate how a critical mass of dedi- seen as perversions of long-sacred principles, but as a (accessed 31 March 2014). cated individuals, with backing from a powerful patron, reflection of the times. l

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