The Uralicist Movement was started on 18 March 2007 by a group of former Russian/Soviet citizens of Uralic extraction, for the most part either Mari, Udmurt, or Komi, in the wake of ethnic persecution being carried out by nations and extremist groups in that area. The initial aim of this movement was to band together the Uralic peoples in solidarity in order to help each individual group preserve its culture. It was inspired in large part by the relative success of the Finnish Cooperation Organization. The "official" founding members of this were Estonian Vaido Kuik, Finn Lasse Mäkelä (who lived in Vyborg), Karelian Meri Vanhanen, and Russo-Mari Yevgeny Kolpakov.