Budanov outlined the conditions for the possible secession of the peoples of the Russian Federation
Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, stated that the secession of Russia’s smaller ethnic groups is possible only under certain internal conditions. According to him, this would require destabilization within the Russian Federation and the emergence of strong ethnic leaders capable of spearheading such processes.
This opinion was expressed by the Head of the Office of the President, Kirill Budanov, during the Kyiv Stratcom Forum 2026.
"They will be able to secede when a leader emerges and when destabilization begins in Russia. Yes, at this time, all of this is possible. Given these two aspects. First—internal destabilization, or rather weakness, which, in principle, is the same thing for them. And the presence of a national leader who is on the ground," he said.
Budanov noted that local leaders are not currently strong. At the same time, he said, there are several prominent ethnic leaders, but most of them are currently outside the territory of the Russian Federation. The head of the Presidential Office noted that the return of these leaders to the Russian Federation would pose a major challenge to Russia’s territorial integrity.
In addition, the politician emphasized that the Russian authorities use television and cultural products to broadcast narratives and ideological messages around the clock, creating a distorted view of the world similar to North Korea’s model of information isolation.
"I’ll give you an interesting example. In Moscow, in one of the central war museums, there is, I believe, an entire hall dedicated to this—and believe me, it’s beautiful. If you don’t think about what it’s about, it’s one of the best exhibitions in the world. There are exhibits, photographs, interactive displays—everything works. In reality, it probably costs billions, not millions. One of the halls is called the ‘Museum of Ukrainian Nazism.’ If you walked in there and weren’t, say, from Ukraine, you’d believe it all. Absolutely everything is logical and constructed correctly according to their ideology. It has nothing to do with reality, but it’s constructed absolutely correctly and logically. That’s why people, seeing this, actually believe it. If you talk to ordinary Russians, many will give you examples, because they’re shown all of this, broadcast 24/7. It’s a complete distortion of reality. It’s something like North Korea, where they’ve created an artificial view of the world. They’re on that path,” he said.
Budanov added that Russians can only be “deprogrammed” through a gradual shift in the information landscape, specifically by demonstrating a different reality.
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