Russian Lawmaker Offers to Help Texas Get Independence From US

Russian lawmaker Sergey Mironov offered to help Texas get independence from the United States in a social media post on Saturday.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have been battling in court over migrant deterrent tactics that the governor has implemented to stop the massive influx of illegal migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

There were more than 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2023 fiscal year, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

In a recent legal blow to Abbott, the Supreme Court on Monday sided with the Biden administration, temporarily allowing federal agents to take down razor wire along parts of the southern border while litigation over the issue proceeds. The White House has called Abbott's tactics like the razor wire and circular saw floating barriers on the Rio Grande river "dangerous" and "cruel," while Abbott called the razor wire "an effective deterrent."

Following the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling, Abbott declared Texas' "right to self-defense" in response to President Joe Biden's immigration policies in a statement on Wednesday. Amid all the fighting over how to handle the border, calls for Texas' independence have been bolstered in a movement coined as "Texit." However, the state can't legally secede from the U.S., according to the 1869 case Texas v. White, in which it was ruled that individual states can't unilaterally decide to leave the union.

On Saturday, Mironov, the leader of faction A Just Russia—For Truth in the Russian legislature, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "In the conflict between Texas and the United States, I am on the side of the state. At least Texas does not interfere in the affairs of other countries. If necessary, we are ready to help with the independence referendum. And of course, we will recognize the People's Republic of Texas if there is one. Good luck! We're with you!"

The post was written in Russian and translated in a separate post by Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs. In his Sunday post, he called out the hypocrisy of Mironov's statement, writing, "Says the representative of a country that oppresses its ethnic minorities, calls all independence movements within Russia organized by foreign special services, beats up and jails public activists."

A U.S. Department of State spokesperson told Newsweek via email on Sunday, "The Kremlin is trying in the most obvious way to concoct a false narrative that will sow division in our country. We hope people see this narrative for what it is—standard Kremlin nonsense."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian government via email for comment.

Talks of another potential civil war or "national divorce," as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, has suggested, have been sparking prior to the Court's ruling as political divides grow deeper in the U.S. Meanwhile, following Abbott's claim of self-defense, several conservative commentators have warned of Biden inciting a civil war.

Late last month, Julia Davis, founder of the Russian Media Monitor watchdog group, shared a clip on X of Sergei Markov, a notably pro-Putin political scientist and former adviser to the Russian leader, suggesting on a Russian state-run media broadcast that a civil war in the U.S. would not only be good for Russia in its war with Ukraine, but "good for the world."

Biden has signaled that he is open to "massive changes" on border policy at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting at the White House last week, an initiative that a bipartisan group of senators are currently working on.

Update 1/28/24, 3:02 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from the State Department.