Ukraine war exposes ethnic conflicts in Russia – 07/30/2022 – World

when I invaded Ukrainein february, Russia This ended up opening up space for a domestic cash flow that had been partially dormant. Since then, initiatives have been spawned by ethnic minorities who see war as another way to exploit their communities.

In general, the groups say that soldiers from poor areas and national minorities are most sent to the front and receive the least support in the event of injury or death.

Russia consists of 85 federations, 22 of which are republics created as regions to represent the regions of non-Russian nationalities. a The state rarely reveals the number of casualties in the warbut a survey for Mediazona, Banned by the Kremlinalong with the British BBC, estimates the disproportionate numbers of soldiers killed in these places.

By early July, at least 4,238 Russian soldiers had died. Of these, 225 are from the Republic of Dagestan (southwest), 185 from the Republic of Buryatia and 66 from the Republic of Tuva, both from the center and the south. The three republics combined account for 3% of the population, but 11.3% of the deaths. Local anti-war organizations are speaking out in greater numbers.

They are groups like the Asians in Russia, created this year, which say they aim to spread minority culture in the country and in the diaspora, but especially the fight against war. The initiative provides legal support to politically persecuted and military personnel who have been recalled and who do not wish to leave.

Or Fundação Buriacia Livre, created by journalist Alexandra Garmagapova. The organization claims that most men in rural Buryatia see military service as the only opportunity to earn money and buy a house in its capital, Ulan-Ude.

This perception is the same as that of analyst Pavel Luzhin, a specialist in the Russian armed forces. to me The British Guardian newspaper He said that the lower ranks in the army are full of young men from these republics who join after compulsory service, especially for financial reasons. “It’s a golden ticket for many who have no prospects in life.”

But there was another factor that prompted the group’s creation: the bias it targets in other regions, such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg. We believe that Russia Declaring the de-Nazification of Ukraine as a goal“She completely contradicts herself, because she has a very high level of chauvinism, racism and Nazism,” Garmagapova told Republic, which is also censored by the Kremlin.

This scenario is part of a system that perpetuates racial differences, says University of the South Pacific history professor Angelo Sigrelo. In Russia, a person inherits the nationality of the father or mother, unlike in Brazil and other Western countries, where the definition is associated with the place of birth.

“This creates great cultural wealth, but also the potential for tensions, because everyone wants cultural or even political independence,” says the author of The Russians. Thus, a person born in the Republic of Tova does not necessarily have Tuvan citizenship – only if their father or mother has it.

This is the case of Defense Minister Sergei Choigo. He, born in Chad, in Tuva, to a Flood father and a Russian mother, maintains a relationship with government officials of the republic, but he actually claimed to have been brought up on the faith of the Orthodox Church and not related to Buddhism and Shamanism, the traditions of religions in the region.

The most recent public data, which is more than ten years old – and therefore outdated – shows that more than 160 nationalities live in the country. About 80% of the population will be Russians. There are also Tatars (3.9%), Ukrainians (2%) and Bashkirs (1.1%), for example.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington think tank that publishes daily reports on the conflict in Ukraine, said in a recent document that it had observed the prevalence of non-ethnic Russians in Russian battalions. “This increases the risk that Putin’s apparent desire for non-Russians to bear the brunt of the war will create internal tension in these areas,” he added.