This is hardly the first time the core Linux code stack has been forked and independently developed. Seems like this is going to invite a Russia-specific development environment that just pulls in updates from the main branch and adds in Russia-internal development (which will likely then be copied by non-Russians and backloaded into the core Linux stack under someone else's name, because why waste good dev work?)

But the argument appears to be anyone with a Russian-sounding name is getting removed from the core development team, until they can prove to the American team that they aren't... spooks, I guess? Also

The driver code to which the dropped maintainers contributed remains in place.

So this isn't such a high security risk that the code is being pulled (presumably because its been vetted and appears beyond repute). This is purely a CYA move to eliminate veterans on the team because they were forthright about their identities.

should be based in a more open, mor asvanced in laws and neutral territory.

Its not clear how a policy of booting people based on their surnames accomplishes this.