[6] The Forum features a dynamic and diverse lineup of participants and speakers, including opposition activists, politicians in forced exile, and influential leaders of national movements across Russia's varied regions.

They are joined by statesmen, diplomats, and politicians from Europe, Asia, and North America, as well as experts in military affairs, economists, political scientists, esteemed religious authorities, and accomplished journalists.

[7][8][9] According to the publications Meduza and Novaya Gazeta, the organizer of the forum is Ukrainian entrepreneur Oleg Magaletsky, who is also a restaurant business owner and Euromaidan participant.

[1][10] Magaletsky states that the forum has two goals: to prepare Russian citizens for the possibility of the country's collapse, and to garner acceptance of this idea among Western nations.

Participants signed a decree, proclaiming the priority of the currently existing administrative boundaries between the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in order to prevent possible future conflicts.

"[5] French historian and sociologist Marlène Laruelle writes that Western politicians should not confuse the radical statements of political exiles at the Forum of Free Peoples of Russia with the opinions of Russian citizens.

She condemned the advocacy by some Western politicians for the disintegration of Russia as a false strategy that would be “a disaster for international security” and which stems from a misunderstanding of what exactly "holds Russian society together in all its diversity.

However, he noted that in some cases political emigrants did gain power, citing examples like Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Ayatollah Khomeini, Ho Chi Minh, and Mahatma Gandhi.

In his opinion, it may happen that the border territories—Chechnya, Ingushetia, or Tuva—will secede from Russia, but “there has not been a single case in history where a mono-national state was divided without occupation.” Vadim Shtepa, a leading Russian regionalist and one of the founders of the organization, withdrew from the Forum in December 2022, condemning it as a "parody" which, instead of performing serious analytical work on de-imperialization, focused on "loud" and "empty" declarations of independence by emigrants that would have no practical effect on their respective regions.

[29] The SVTV Network publication of the politician Mikhail Svetov, there was a message about "state security agents who gathered a forum to remind you that if not Putin, then a civil war" and "painted a contour map without really thinking about the meaning of the proposed reforms.

He also suggested "remembering the precepts of the famous Soviet intelligence officer Pavel Sudoplatov," implying the murder of political emigrants abroad.

"[9] In early August 2023, the Russian Foreign Ministry lodged an official protest with the Japanese Embassy over a meeting of the Forum of Free Peoples of Post-Russia held in Tokyo.