Siberia independence

what if when the Soviet Union was falling Siberia declared independence

Would they be the successor of the Soviet Union?

How would the world change?

Would Russia be as feared as it is today?

Would Siberia be the person America hates after the Soviet Union or would that still fall to Russia?
 
I think this can only happen if either the USA and/or China backs this kind of independence and if the USSR was going up in flames via a civil war and/or a WWIII; most likely Siberia would fall to either US, Chinese, and/or Japanese influence given the vast resources the region has and that Siberia would become more "Asianized" while Russia would return to being more "European" instead of staying a self-hating European nation of sorts.
 
Why would Siberia declare independence? It was thoroughly Russified, and with the Trans-Siberian Railroad in effect its not like it was as isolated militarily or economically as it once had been. Vladivostok was one of Russia's most important ports, too.
 
Why would Siberia declare independence? It was thoroughly Russified, and with the Trans-Siberian Railroad in effect its not like it was as isolated militarily or economically as it once had been. Vladivostok was one of Russia's most important ports, too.
Incentives could be Moscow going apeshit + promises of massive Chinese/American/Korean investments. While Chaos reigns on the European side of Russia, Siberian(maybe also Central Asian?) generals and officials get together and declare and independent state.
 
Incentives could be Moscow going apeshit + promises of massive Chinese/American/Korean investments. While Chaos reigns on the European side of Russia, Siberian(maybe also Central Asian?) generals and officials get together and declare and independent state.

Interesting idea. Do you think they would get everything east of the Urals, or just the Far East and Maritime regions?
 
One problem is that there wasn't any "Siberian" government to declare independence (unlike the case with Union Republics and potentially with Autonomous Republics).
 

PhilippeO

Banned
each city in Siberia has closer relation with Moscow, rather than with each other. Siberian independence is not really possible (exception is as puppet state of foreign power)
 
You need an earlier POD, some kind of surviving White state (with backing from the Japanese) in Siberia. Vladivostok or Irkutsk are the obvious choice for a capital, and they would need heavy Japanese support to stave off the Soviets.
 
Out of 150 million people only 25 million live East of the Urals. That region could house the entirety of the US and Western Europe combined. The region would be divided today between China and Japan. Oh and another thing two-thirds are ethic Russians the rest are divided into dozens of little ethnic nations, there is no "Siberia" just small statelets.
 
I could see Siberia getting independence if the Soviets go violently, leaving a terrified China and America to march into Siberia and establish a buffer state between their nations and the mess that is a Soviet Union collapsing violently. This buffer state doesn't need to have a unique culture, nor does if have to have a large population, all it needs to have is foreign powers backing it and a Russia sane enough to not declare war on half the world.
 
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