The Black Spark movement has introduced itself on the international stage. Its public representative, Igor Volobuyev, spoke on October 11 in Warsaw at the Free Russia Forum with three fundamental proposals: to create a combat wing of the opposition inside Russia, to commit the future transitional government to a nuclear-free status for the country, and to support the creation of independent states on the territory of today’s Russian Federation.
Volobuyev spoke at the opening session of the Free Russia Forum, organized by Garry Kasparov, entitled “Victory for Ukraine.” He presented the programmatic positions of the Black Spark underground movement, which is engaged in sabotage on the territory of the Russian Federation. According to his statement, the movement recently assisted the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an attack on the Omsk oil refinery and set fire to several diesel locomotives and relay cabinets, including in Chechnya.
From political discussions to armed resistance
The main theme of Volobuyev’s speech was the need to move from exclusively political discussions to forceful methods of resistance against the Putin regime. He directly proposed to the leadership of the Free Russia Forum that it create its own combat wing operating inside Russia. According to him, Black Spark could take on this role.
“If the Free Russia Forum does not create a combat wing inside Russia to fight against Putin, you have little chance,” Volobuyev declared. Support for this position was also expressed by Zirka, a participant in the Freedom of Russia Legion, whom the session moderator Ksenia Larina introduced as Anastasia Vistarovskaya. According to Zirka, Russia needs “partisan terror.”
Russia without nuclear weapons
Volobuyev’s second proposal was the conclusion of an agreement between Black Spark and the Free Russia Forum regarding the future nuclear-free status of Russia. Volobuyev called for the signing of a memorandum that would legally establish the commitment of the transitional government to renounce the nuclear arsenal after a regime change. According to Black Spark, complete nuclear disarmament should represent a fundamental guarantee that Russia will not attack neighboring countries in the future and will not return to militaristic policies.
The end of imperial Russia
The third programmatic position of Black Spark is the defragmentation of the Russian Federation. The movement advocates for the dismantling of the current imperial structure and the emergence of independent, sovereign states that will be democratic, free, and economically viable.
Volobuyev thus joined the position formulated a few minutes before his speech by another participant in the discussion, Andrei Volna, a member of the Russian Platform at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). “I believe that Russia will be free, but only when there are several of those Russias: a free Tatarstan, a free Bashkortostan, a free Ingermanland,” Volna declared.
From Gazprombank leadership to the fight against Putin
Igor Volobuyev worked in the structures of Gazprom from 2000 to 2022. From 2007 to 2016, he headed the conglomerate’s press department, and for the following six years, he held the position of Vice President of Gazprombank.
After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he declared he was an ethnic Ukrainian and left Russia. Subsequently, he joined the Freedom of Russia Legion, in whose ranks he fought against the Russian army. He was wounded, obtained Ukrainian citizenship, and the rank of junior sergeant in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
At this year’s Free Russia Forum, he appeared as a public representative of Black Spark, which is now offering cooperation to the Russian exiled opposition in organizing resistance inside the Russian Federation.
Sources:
SOTA – report from the Free Russia Forum
Photos:
Igor Volobuyev and Zirka – Ruslan Terekhov, SOTA
Yevgenia Chirikova, Andrei Volna and Igor Volobuyev – Igor Volobuyev’s FB
