Summary: The region of Idel-Ural, presently consisting of three Finno-Ugric republics (Mari, Mordovia and Udmurtia) and three Turko-Tatar republics (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Chuvassistan) within the present Russian Federation, forms a historically prosperous region with large natural resources. It used to be a site of glorious Tatar civilizations, and an important crossroads of both European and Oriental trade routes. The Russian Empire colonised this region in the 1500s, but since the fall of the Soviet Empire, several Idel-Ural republics have been searching for prospects for increasing autonomy from the corrupted ties to Moscow. Considering the region’s wealth that is above the Russian average, and oil resources, the region will grow in importance in the near future. Vladimir Putin’s present policy of abolishing federalism and democracy in present Russia, and turning it closer to imperialism and centralism, may seriously hurt the region’s prospects and stability. Destabilisation of the Idel-Ural region in response to Putin’s centralism would be such a fatal strike to the legitimacy of the whole Russian Empire that it can be compared to the fall of the Soviet Union. The Finnish historian Antero Leitzinger, a leading expert of Tatar nations, features the history and future prospects of the Idel-Ural region – the land where Europe ends.