Indigenous Siberians, barred from fighting fossil fuels back home, join Line 5 fight
In the United States and Canada, Native citizens can point to long-held treaty rights as attempted recourse against encroaching fossil fuel projects. Such is the case with the Great Lakes tribes that oppose Canadian company Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline in Michigan and Line 3 in Minnesota.
However, there is no such recourse available for Indigenous people of Siberia, who face similar challenges many thousands of miles away.
“If [this] happened in Russia, I know that we would go just directly to jail,” said Stanislav (Saas) Ksenofontov, gesturing to the large gathering of tribal citizens who were gathered in northern Michigan on Saturday to protest Line 5.
Water protectors and supporters, Ksenofontov among them, had just marched several miles through the streets of Mackinaw City to arrive at Conkling Park near the waters of the Straits. Speakers from Michigan, Canada and beyond spoke about the dangers of fossil fuels and the importance of protecting the earth from companies that value profit over life.
That kind of public Indigenous resistance against extractive industries “is not possible” in Russia, Ksenofontov told the Advance. “… I see this, and I’m just amazed.”
Extractive industries disproportionately harm Indigenous lands, and Native peoples are often among the first to experience the effects of climate change. Oil pipelines in Russia, including the Druzhba pipeline that is the world’s longest, are expansive and crisscross many Indigenous territories.
Russia’s Indigenous peoples inhabit roughly two-thirds of the country’s territory, yet very few have any land or treaty rights. Those that do are provided with very limited benefits.
The ability to protest is also severely limited in Russia, something that’s in the international spotlight as the authoritarian government is cracking down on demonstrators opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I was thinking today, walking from the church to this square … [In Russia,] there is a law banning to gather more than five people. So we cannot protest, we cannot march. It’s not allowed.
“It’s not allowed to criticize government. We will be just jailed,” Ksenofontov said.
Ksenofontov was one of several Indigenous Siberians to speak and perform at the Heart of the Turtle gathering over the weekend. The Michigan-based water protector group MackinawOde organized the events to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the state’s attempted Line 5 “eviction.”
Enbridge has been considered an international trespasser in the Straits by the state of Michigan since May 13, 2021. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had ordered months before that the company cease oil transport through Line 5 by that date; instead, Enbridge refused and filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the state’s ability to shut down the pipeline.
That lawsuit remains pending as a federal judge deliberates.
“All these companies should just leave the sacred lands, shouldn’t destroy ecosystems and traditional practices,” Ksenofontov said of Enbridge. “Fortunately, people resist here, people protest, it’s really amazing. Unfortunately, we cannot do that in our situation because it’s dangerous, it’s prohibited.”
Tribal citizens involved in organizing the event in protest of Line 5 first linked up with the Indigenous Siberians in March, where water protectors across the globe converged for an international conference at the University of Minnesota Duluth to speak about resisting pipeline development in Indigenous lands.
Ksenofontov, an Indigenous social scientist from the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in northeast Siberia, is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Northern Iowa. He has previously studied in Switzerland and Korea.
Sakha is the largest of Russia’s 85 federal subjects and stretches more than one million square miles. The region is rich in minerals like diamond, gold and coal.
Only 40 of Russia’s 160 distinct peoples are officially recognized by the government as Indigenous, as Russia dictates that they must be composed of less than 50,000 members.
“Since my nation is … more than 50,000, we are not ‘Indigenous’ and we are not recognized by the government. So we have no rights to land, we have limited rights to hunting and fishing,” Ksenofontov said.
This makes recourse for his people “quite difficult” when faced with issues like deforestation, oil projects and more, he said. A recent struggle in Sakha involves two Russian logging companies that want to take trees from Indigenous land and export them to China.
“These forests are located in a really pristine place, the cleanest river and the endangered animals. It will just be gone if they start to cut trees,” Ksenofontov said.
“[The Russian government] … they just steal resources, they just steal money from the people and they never share benefits on the resources. Our region is the richest in Russia. We have gold, oil, gas, diamonds, silver, everything. … Every single element is in our region, and we don’t receive anything. We receive just super small amount of benefits from all these resources,” he continued.
“They are just filling up their pockets.”
Pavel Sulyandziga, an elder of the Udege people in southeast Siberia and one of Russia’s most outspoken Indigenous rights activists, has been deeply involved in the struggle against extractive businesses since the 1980s.
“The government of the Russian federation and president [Vladimir Putin], they do not respect Indigenous peoples’ rights,” Sulyandziga said in his native language on Saturday, as translated by University of Northern Iowa professor Andrey Petrov.
The Udege people are natives of the Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai regions in Russia. Since the 1980s’ “Perestroika” movement for reform within the Soviet Union’s Communist Party, Sulyandziga has been a leader for his peoples’ struggle over traditional Udege territories along the Bikin River.
Those struggles include attempts to fend off deforestation, government-backed jade mining, and projects from oil companies like Shell, Mobil and Exxon.
“The companies would come. They would destroy the environment and that would have an impact on the Indigenous peoples’ livelihoods,” Sulyandziga said.
Sulyandziga currently chairs the Board of the International Development Fund of Indigenous Peoples in Russia (BATANI). Amid many other prestigious posts related to Indigenous peoples in Siberia, he was also a member of the United Nations (UN) Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 2005 to 2010 and a member/chair of the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights from 2011 to 2018.
In 2017, Sulyandziga visited the Indigenous-led resistance at Standing Rock, N.D., in an unofficial capacity. Activists faced off against law enforcement there to protest against the now-operational Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
He said he came to northern Michigan to stand with water protectors against Line 5 and Line 3 over the weekend “to support Indigenous peoples here to fight against the pipeline.”
Sulyandziga faced backlash from the powers that be in Russia for his public fight against businesses threatening Native lands. Fearing potential persecution, he applied for political asylum in the United States in 2017.
“Russia, the Indigenous peoples rights are completely unfollowed, violated, totally violated. They are broken,” Sulyandziga said.
He now resides in Maine as he continues to await asylum status. Sylyandziga says many other tribal leaders from Russia who do similar activism now live in different countries as they, too, seek asylum.
Other Indigenous Siberian speakers at the Heart of the Turtle Gathering included Lena Popova, Tatiana Degai, Varvara Korkina Williams and Viktoria Sharakhmatova.
MackinawOde founder Nathan Wright, a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, said all of the Siberians present at the Line 5 gathering will be returning to northern Michigan in July.
The Siberians will meet then with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB) for a youth-centered gathering to exchange Indigenous knowledge.
“We will share our teachings and they will share theirs,” Wright said Tuesday.
All 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan publicly oppose the Line 5 pipeline and its proposed tunnel-enclosed replacement.
Russians in Maine find relations strained with friends and family overseas
Disinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has convinced many in Russia to support the regime’s unprovoked war.
YARMOUTH — Pavel Sulyandziga’s former classmates at Khabarovsk State Pedagogical University in Russia’s Far East used to engage in friendly chats about family, gardening and career developments on their WhatsApp group.
Within a week of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the Yarmouth resident said the tone changed. A classmate – a doctor of mathematics and physics – started posting praise of Russian troops for what she believed was their heroic effort to save the Ukrainian people from Nazis. Another posted images of the “Z” painted on many Russian military vehicles involved in the brutal invasion, which has become a symbol of support for Vladimir Putin’s war.
When Sulyandziga, an Udege indigenous activist and dissident and asylum recipient who has lived in Maine since fleeing retribution by Putin’s regime in 2015, pushed back, things quickly got ugly.
“I said, what do you mean they are liberating the Ukrainians? None of them are for you, they are all fighting against you,” he recalled. “She wrote back that Putin knows everything, and he is our leader. I was told I was a fascist and a Banderite,” a supporter of the World War II-era Ukrainian nationalist and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, who was assassinated by the KGB in Munich in 1959 and whose name has become the Putin regime’s go-to slur for anyone supporting Ukrainian sovereignty.
“I finally just left the group,” Sulyandziga said. “It doesn’t exist for me now.”
Over the past six weeks, Mainers who immigrated from the Russian Federation have been having exasperating interactions with many of their friends, colleagues and family members back at home who live inside the regime’s disinformation bubble. That’s where up is down, two and two make five, there is no war in Ukraine and Russia’s flawless leader is responsible for saving Ukraine’s people from fascism, rather than destroying their cities, driving 10 million from their homes, and killing an estimated 1,200 civilians in an unprovoked invasion condemned by almost the entire world.
The propaganda bubble is highly effective and driven by Putin’s total control over Russia’s television stations, the closure of the last independent newspapers and radio stations, the blocking of many foreign broadcast and digital news sources and a draconian crackdown against protesters and dissent.
“One of the main reasons it is so effective is because people are already preconditioned to believe these kinds of stories, and not just because the propaganda has been saying these kinds of things for years,” said Anton Shirikov, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who researches Russia’s domestic propaganda. “A lot of people in Russia were and are very upset about how the Soviet Union collapsed, and the reoccurring narrative is that this is all the West’s fault along with the CIA and the traitors who negotiated the collapse. The Ukraine war is just a continuation of that story: Ukraine and NATO plotting against Russia.”
Even people who might be inclined to question the propaganda narrative about the war have incentives not to, Shirikov said. “It would require them to admit that they were lied to for many years and that they were gullible and deceived. It’s not pleasant to admit these things, and when you don’t hear any dissenting voices around you and everyone is saying, ‘This is a just war,’ it’s even harder to start questioning.”
MAY NEVER GO BACK TO HER VILLAGE
Svetlana Bell emigrated to Maine in 1995 from Krasny Yar, a village in the Primorsky of the Russian Far East, 40 miles east of the Chinese border, where most inhabitants are ethnic Udege or Nanai like herself. But she’s found Moscow’s propaganda – which features Russian ethno-nationalism – is highly effective, even from 5,300 miles away in a community with few ethnic Russians that’s closer to Japan.
“I have two sisters there, and they really don’t know there’s a war going on, which for me was a big shock,” Bell said. “They watch television every day, and they don’t talk about the war in Ukraine on the TV news.”
Bell, who is married to former Press Herald reporter Tom Bell and lives in Yarmouth, said she tried to explain to one sister what was really happening in Ukraine. “She didn’t believe me and was very angry at me for telling her this because she said Russia supports peace around the world. They are taken in by the propaganda, and the phone calls became really tense because of the disagreement over what was happening.
“I don’t want to call them or argue with them anymore,” she said.
There are dissenters. A man Bell knew in Krasny Yar, whose wife was in Ukraine, saw a photograph Bell posted on social media of her attending an anti-war protest in Portland and contacted her via WhatsApp. “He was so glad to learn that I was protesting the war, and he had found a way to learn what was going on there,” Bell recalled. “I don’t know how he was able to get the information, but for most people it is very difficult.”
Later she saw a photograph on social media she found devastating. Villagers had gathered in traditional indigenous clothing and used a drone to take a picture of themselves standing in a “Z” formation around a Russian flag. “I was very disgraced to see that,” she said. “Maybe after this, I will never be able to go back to this village.”
Several Russian immigrants declined to speak to the Press Herald for fear of getting their family members in trouble or because it was too painful to do so. One couple from Russia’s North Ossetia region in the Caucasus Mountains who live in Greater Portland agreed to speak anonymously about their communications with friends in larger cities there.
“Our relatives are very smart and intelligent people who never bought anything they saw on TV, so it’s easy to talk to them because they see things as we do,” the wife in the couple explained, noting YouTube and some other platforms still function in Russia, allowing people who want to seek out information from the outside to do so. “But they say when they try to explain to the people around them what is going on, to convince them that everything they see on (Russian regime-controlled) TV has nothing to do with reality, it’s like talking to a brick wall.”
Her husband has tried talking with his former high school classmates, but he gets too frustrated to continue. “They just respond with the slogans they see on TV, with exactly the same words, like they’re reading from a script,” he said. “I know I can’t make a big hole in that wall, but just a little hole would be nice.”
They say younger people in larger cities are generally not taken in by the propaganda because they don’t watch television. “They go into TikTok and Instagram and Facebook so they don’t buy it,” the wife said. “But people who live in small towns and villages don’t have access to the internet or, if they do, often don’t know how to use it. So their only access is via television and radio, and that puts them so far from the reality of the war.”
‘THEY WATCH ONLY RUSSIAN NEWS’
Victoria Liashenko emigrated from Russia six years ago and lives in Portland with her American husband. Her parents live in Tatarstan, about 600 miles east of Moscow, and even though her father’s family are ethnic Ukrainians, when it comes to the war they’re living, as she puts it, in “an illusion.”
“They watch only Russian news, which tells them that nothing is happening and that they need to trust the government,” she said. “There has been some arguing between us. They don’t understand why they should have to fight for freedom; they just want to leave things as they are. They are used to this world.”
Her parents also fear Putin’s regime. “I posted something on Instagram against the war, and my mom called me crying worried that the KGB will show up at the house,” Liashenko, who participated in the first protest of her life in Boston last month, recalled. “I told her that’s not true, but they are so scared.” They’ve never met her husband, and she wonders when they ever will.
None of the Russians the Press Herald spoke to for this story had any hope that their countrymen would rise up to overthrow Putin because a large majority accept and support his nationalist agenda, tacitly or actively.
“There’s a minority of people who don’t like Putin’s regime, but most of the people who could have risen up already left Russia,” Sulyandziga said. “I don’t think anything major is going to happen. The only possibility is a palace coup.”
Staff writer Eric Russell contributed to this story.
Аn appeal of the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia to representatives of indigenous peoples in the Russian armed forces
#StayAtHome
We, representatives of the indigenous peoples of Russia, appeal to indigenous persons who serve in the Russian armed forces with a request not to take part in the shameful war in Ukraine that president Putin calls a “special military operation”.
It is well known that the indigenous territories of Russia, where indigenous peoples live, rank last among Russian regions in terms of quality of life, even though these lands are the source of natural resources that support the whole Russian economy.
A majority of Russia’s indigenous municipalities and ethnic republics are economically backward regions with poor populations because most of the wealth produced by these regions goes to Moscow. This money President Putin uses for implementing his imperial plans to suppress the freedom of the peoples of Russia and other countries.
The imperial chauvinism cherished by Vladimir Putin for 20 years drives you today as members of the Russian armed forces to the bloodbath in Ukraine to implement his order to crush the will of the Ukrainian people to freedom.
But only freedom makes it possible for every nation to possess their traditional lands fruitfully, preserve and develop their languages, cultures, and traditions, and be equal among other civilized peoples. Today Ukrainians show everyone how to love their native land, people, and way of life. Today, they are defending their own freedom and the freedom of the peoples of Russia, and our fate is now being decided in Ukraine.
Solders and representatives of indigenous peoples in the Russian armed forces! Today you have the opportunity to save your lives, the future of your nations, and the lives of thousands of innocent people in Ukraine. You need to stop your participation in military actions. Do not allow your commanders to send you or your colleagues to the war in Ukraine. Sabotage the orders of your superiors who demand to shoot Ukrainians and destroy Ukrainian cities.
Authorities are frightening you by punishment and prison for refusing to go to the war. But if you do not go, you won’t be killed. You will stay alive! There are already examples of refusals by militaries of the Federal National Guard Troops Service who refused to cross the border of Ukraine because this is an illegal action according to the law of the Russian Federation. Their commanders illegally dismissed them from service. That is how they suffered for not going to the war, but they returned home alive.
You don’t need to die for the palaces, yachts, and billions of Putin and his friends. You can not kill Ukrainian civilians – children, women and the elderly. Each of us has to stay a human being.
Your families and loved ones are waiting for you at home as their destiny depends on your decision.
The war is a crime!
You have to make a choice!
Please stay home and say NO to the war!
International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia
Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People
Buryat Democratic Movement
National Movement of the Northerners
Statement of the Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples of the Russian Federation on the support of the Russian president Vladimir Putin
STATEMENT
of the All-Russian Public Movement
“Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples of the Russian Federation”.
We, the representatives of Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia, express our support to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who has decided to protect the rights and interests of the inhabitants of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic and arranged forced and necessary measures to strengthen the security of our country.
We believe that the revival and spread of Nazi ideology, a manifestation of any forms of discrimination on linguistic, national and religious grounds, are absolutely unacceptable in the present-day world.
Our compatriots, relatives and loved ones live beyond the Russian-Ukrainian border, and they became hostages of the policy aimed at inciting hate and hostility in society.
We express our solidarity with the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic residents and other peaceful residents of Ukraine and hope for the soonest establishment of peace and mutual understanding.
Why the Saami Council damages the Saami community with its political, biased and anti-Russian statement
Following § 1 of the Statute, the Saami Council is a public and independent cultural and political cooperation organization of the major Saami organizations in Norway, Russia, Finland and Sweden. The Saami Council is a non-governmental public organization.
Also, according to § 2 of the Statute, the main goals of the Saami Council are the protection of the interests of the Saami as a whole people, the strengthening of the sense of solidarity of the Saami people across the borders as an entire people and indigenous people, and the work with the aim that the Saami will be recognized as a whole people and indigenous people in the future, whose cultural, political, economic, civil, social and spiritual rights must be guaranteed through the legislation of each separate country, treaties between the affected states and the Saami representative bodies, as well as international legal agreements. The Saami Council also works internationally to promote the development and protection of the interests and rights of the Saami and other indigenous peoples.
Based on the results of consideration of the statement for the suspension of cooperation with member organizations on the Russian side, the Kola Saami Association asks for clarifications – why the Saami Council damages the Saami community with its political, biased and anti-Russian statement and jeopardizes the Saami unity for the sake of the current political situation.
In connection with the above, we inform you that the Kola Sami Association will be forced to withdraw from the Saami Council. This fact means that the Saami Council cannot speak at events of any level on behalf of the Russian Saami.
RUSSIA’S LARGEST INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATION SUPPORTS THE WAR IN UKRAINE
– It’s no wonder since that organization is entirely under the Putin government’s control, says Indigenous activist Pavel Sulyandziga, who has escaped to the USA.
Russia’s largest Indigenous organization, RAIPON (Russia’s northern Indigenous people’s organization), has declared that it completely supports Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine war. In the statement sent to the Russian president it says so:
– The Russian NGO RAIPON supports the intention and actions to save the rights and interests of the inhabitants of Donetsk and Luhansk’s people’s republics and Russia’s interethnic security.
Behind the statement stand 40 Indigenous groups of Russia, including the «Association of Kola Sami», one of the two largest Sámi organizations of the Murmansk region.
DOESN’T REPRESENT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
– It’s not strange that RAIPON supports the war. It’s entirely natural for that organization to do so, says the Russian Indigenous activist and RAIPON’s former vice president Pavel Sulyandziga.
Sulyandziga, who belongs to the Udege people, escaped from Russia in 2017 and lives now in exile as a refugee in the USA.
He says that since 2013 RAIPON hasn’t been an independent Indigenous organization.
– The organization is part of Putin’s government and represents the government’s interests. The organization has also, since 2013, reported on Russian Indigenous leaders to the police and state security authorities, says Sulyandziga.
SUPPORT UKRAINE
Sulyandziga is among other Indigenous activists who have had to leave Russia and founded a new independent organization of indigenous peoples.
– Russia’s Indigenous peoples can’t sit still when the Russian leader goes to war against Ukraine and the people of that state.
– We don’t support that war and support Ukraine’s people that now fight for their state.
– We encourage Russia’s Indigenous peoples to refuse to take part in this shameful war, says Sulyandziga
WORSENING THE CONDITIONS
He says that it has been difficult in Russia to work for Indigenous rights for a long time already. However, conditions worsened after Russia went to war with Ukraine in February.
– If you’ve watched the news, you can hear that Putin recently said that he’d got his eyes on people working together with the Western world. So now it’s extremely dangerous to work with Indigenous and human rights.
– It was already difficult, but now it may be life-threatening, says Sulyandziga.
DEMOCRACY IS LIMITED IN RUSSIA
UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples’ leader Anne Nuorgam says that she is worried that Indigenous organizations will get mixed into the war.
– It’s frightening because Indigenous peoples live both in Russia and Ukraine. It shows how democracy has been limited in Russia for the last 10-15 years, even if Indigenous rights have been developing, says Nuorgam.
– It also shows how the state can decide over private organizations. So the members must support the state’s interests, even if they don’t support these issues. It’s frightening to see where that has taken us now, says Nuorgam.
Journalists: «How should we understand it when a well-known Indigenous organization supports Putin’s war?»
– That’s the situation they have. They remain a separate organization when they are not in opposition to the state, neither personally nor the organization in itself. That’s their only option. If one looks at it with Western eyes, it’s unfortunate because they lose our trust, says Nuorgam.
Russia’s Indigenous Peoples speak out against the war in Ukraine
Because of the war in Ukraine, Russia has been banned from attending this year’s United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which opened this week in New York.
Instead, a Ukrainian delegation, led by an ethnic Crimean Tatar, is taking their place.
Also in the Russian government’s absence, exiled and emigre Russian Indigenous Leaders have formed an anti-war coalition calling on their people in far east Russia, not to support it.
The coalition includes The International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia, the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk People, the Buryat Democratic Movement and the National Movement of Peoples of the North.
Gathered in New York at the United Nations forum, their joint statement will not go down well in Moscow:
We, representatives of the indigenous nations of Russia, call on our fellow citizens, servicemen and those liable for military service who belong to indigenous nations, and other nations of the Russian Federation — not to take part in the shameful war that is being called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
It would appear that soldiers from Indigenous regions have been killed in relatively large numbers since the war began, so their statement continues, with a plea:
Today you have a chance to save your life, the future of your nations, and the lives of thousands of innocent people in Ukraine. Stop taking part in hostilities. Do your best to block your colleagues from going to war in Ukraine. Disobey the orders of your superiors who order you to shoot Ukrainians and destroy Ukrainian cities.
It makes no sense to die for palaces, yachts, billions owned by Putin and his friends. Don’t give up your young life for their property. Do not commit sin killing civilians — children, women, and the elderly. Each of us must remain Human.Your families and loved ones are waiting for you at home. Oppressed, impoverished, native republics, districts, districts, and villages are waiting for you. Their future depends on each of you.
You may be wondering why all of this concerns me… an Australian who has never been to Russia? The answer is, I have no choice.
My wife Masha is a proud indigenous Siberian from Yakutia and a member of an organisation with permanent status at the UN forum, advocating for native people across vast far east Russia.
Since the start of the war, operating in Russia right now, is virtually impossible for her organisation, but as an Australian citizen, Masha is able to get to the United States to deliver their speech to the general assembly.
She has three minutes at the podium on Thursday and will explain that Russia’s indigenous people were never consulted nor gave their consent to this war — and that they too are victims.
She will also point out that sanctions imposed on Russia will greatly affect the Arctic regions, where life expectancy is already poor and that consideration needs to be given to establishing humanitarian corridors to these areas.
With the supply of essential medical equipment from Europe blocked, it is a matter of life or death in one of the most inhospitable climates on earth.
The forum continues next week. Updates to follow.
War protesting Sámi activist from Kola seeks asylum in Norway
“I can never return to Russia before the genocide regime is changed,” says Andrei Danilov, a Kildin Sámi from Olenegorsk on the Kola Peninsula.
Danilov is a well-known Sámi politician and member of the Sámi Council’s Culture Committee. The Council represents the Sámi across the borders in Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
A few days after Putin launched Kremlin’s bloody war on Ukraine, Andrei posted a photo of himself holding an anti-war poster in front of Russia’s Embassy in Oslo “No War – Peace on Earth”.
“My decision is to seek political asylum,” he says to the Barents Observer.
“In Norway, I can freely and safely speak the truth and fight for the rights of indigenous peoples,” Danilov argues.
While Andrei Danilov in Norway can voice his opinion against the war and freely debate challenges for indigenous peoples in the Arctic, the space for debate inside Russia is of another kind.
Both the Chairman of the Council of Indigenous Minorities under the Government of the Murmansk Oblast and a representative for the Association of the Kola Sámi participated in the war support rally on the anniversary day of Crimea annexation. The propaganda show was headed by Governor Andrei Chibis who stood on stage wearing a hooded sweater with a “Z” on the chest.
In Lovozero, the main Sámi settlement on the Kola Peninsula, supporters placed the “Z” on reindeer, echoing Kremlin’s narrative on the Russian army’s so-called denazification of Ukraine.
NRK Sápmi was first to report about the event and posted a video from the staged support.
Andrei Danilov is not the first representative of Russia’s Arctic minorities to flee the country for political reasons. Exile indigenous peoples representatives have on several occasions voiced their protest against environmental problems caused by mining and industrial pollution. The protests from abroad, like after the big oil spill near Norilsk in Siberia, are often met by counterarguments by indigenous peoples in Russia.
So also when it comes to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Two statements, two realities
RAIPON, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, last week published a strong-worded statement criticizing the exile community’s view on Ukraine. The organization represents indigenous peoples across the Russian Arctic, from the Kola Peninsula in the west to Chukotka Peninsula in the east.
RAIPON says these “figures” living abroad that signed the appeal against the war in Ukraine have “lost contact with their native land” and “have no moral and factual right to speak on behalf of and express the opinion of our peoples.”
The statement says Russia is not responsible for the ongoing tragedy of killing civilians, illegal occupations of Crimea, or violating the rights of indigenous peoples of Ukraine.
“Indigenous peoples of our country have been living and developing as part of the Russian state for more than a thousand years,” RAIPON argues. The header to the statement consists of a new indigenous peoples art symbol with the text ZaRossiyu (For Russia) written with the “Z”.
The exile indigenous community’s statement is “strongly condemning Putin’s war against Ukraine and demands respect for human rights abroad as well as at home.”
One people, four countries
In Norway, Andrei Danilov says he will continue fighting for Sámi rights. “I have not left my homeland, but moved to another area in Sámi-land,” he underlines.
President of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament, Silje Karine Muotka, says to NRK Sápmi that she supports Danilov’s right to get asylum.
“The Sámi is one people in four counties. Our traditional areas of living are in Russia, Norway, Finland and Sweden.”
Muotka notes that also after national borders were drawn the Sámi have lived as one people with the same cultural heritage and affiliation to Sámi areas.
My life is in great danger in Russia
The war in Ukraine became the triggering reason why Andrei Danilov no longer wants to live in Russia.
– I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. The war between Russia and Ukraine has been a huge shock to the fact that I have sought political asylum in Norway, Danilov informs NRK.
Danilov is from Olenegorsk on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. In recent years, he has worked as director of the Sami Cultural Heritage and Development Foundation in his hometown.
He feels compelled to leave his homeland
– My life and my security are in great danger in Russia due to my activity in the defense of human rights, Danilov explains.
NRK meets Danilov in a city center hotel in Oslo. Here he is waiting for his asylum application to be processed. He is the first Russian-Sami asylum seeker in Norway.
After he came to Norway, Danilov has become acquainted with two asylum seekers from Ukraine. They are originally from Chechnya, but fled to Ukraine 20 years ago. Then Russia went to war against Chechnya because the republic wanted to secede from Russia. Now they are on the run again.
We met Andrey first at the refugee camp. We know that he is Sami from Russia. He is a very nice person, says Ahmed. For his own safety, he didn’t tell his full name. Ahmed is happy that there is no conflict between Russians and Ukrainians here in Norway. – Thank God that there is no war here. Thank God!
Danilov believes that war is a very negative thing.
– I’ve seen refugees. I have seen children, women and old people, who have lost their homes, who have lost everything. Of course I can not sit and watch this from the side. These are also people, says Andrei Danilov in a low voice with a tear in the corner of his eye.
Advocate for the rights of indigenous peoples
Danilov is a well-known advocate of indigenous peoples’ rights among both Russian and Nordic Sami.
He has held various positions in local Russian Sami associations. Today he is a member of the Sami Council’s culture committee. The Sami Council is a Sami cooperation body in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.
– I defended human rights of indigenous peoples. These are Sami people and other indigenous peoples who live in other parts of the country, says Danilov.
We tried to achieve that it should adhere to the principle of FPIC, i.e., free, prior and informed consent. The goal was to start a dialogue between indigenous peoples and industrial companies, Danilov explains.
He elaborates:
– The Arctic territories are rich in natural resources. But it is also a land of the indigenous peoples. So by using our resources, preserving our nature, maintaining our traditional lifestyle, we affect the interests of the industrial companies.
Arrested by police
Andrei Danilov has fought for the Sami’s rights to traditional hunting for several years.
-I have won in the Court of Appeal. Nevertheless, we are not allowed to exercise that right. This process will take a long time.
In August 2021, Danilov was arrested by a policeman during a festival in Montsegorsk. He spent five days in jail.
– The policeman asked me questions about Sápmi and Sápmi as separate state. He also asked me – do we have our own laws, government, and how do I think about it. It was clear that he would involve me under the extremism law, Danilov thinks.
Those convicted under the most severe sections on extremism and separatism in Russia can spend many years in prison.
– I could risk never getting out of prison.
How Ukraine invasion will hit Russia’s marginalised: An indigenous activist explains
Down To Earth talks to Pavel Sulyandziga, an indigenous activist about what is happening in Russia, especially to its indigenous and marginalised people
A lot has been said about how the Russian invasion is devastating for Ukraine. But what about the people in Russia? A war always comes at a cost; also, there are economic sanctions against Russia by the United States and some of its allies. While the possible effect of these on the common Russian has been discussed, what about the country’s marginalised communities?
The country is home to a large number of indigenous minorities — from the Karelians and Saami near the Finnish border to the Chukchi on the Bering Strait.
Pavel Sulyandziga is an indigenous activist from Russia who has taken political asylum in the United States. He is a member of the Udege, a people found in the Russian Far East, near the Pacific port of Vladivostok. Their homeland is also home to the Amur tiger, the largest cat in the world, which is a cultural totem of the tribe.
Down To Earth caught up with Sulyandziga and asked him about what exactly was going on in Russia. Edited excerpts:
Rajat Ghai: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused consternation around the world. But, away from the headlines, how will these developments affect the indigenous, minorities and marginalised communities in both countries?
Pavel Sulyandziga: The war is impacting everyone. The sanctions that have been invoked by other countries will have a strong impact on Russia and will impoverish common people.
What is even more terrifying is the Russian regime will now be even less concerned about the rights of indigenous and minority peoples in the country.
The rights of indigenous people are often violated. These people will now be ignored more. Land theft and the violations of our rights will become more frequent. Our efforts to protect those rights through the courts and other ways will be ignored.
Indigenous people live in remote areas that are cut off from the mainstream. Groceries and other products will not be provided or will become costly and unaffordable.
RG: Are there indigenous communities in Ukraine?
PS: There are indigenous people in Ukraine. The majority of them live in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. There is military action taking place on the Crimean Peninsula currently.
At the time that Russia annexed Crimea, many indigenous leaders left the peninsula and moved north into central Ukraine. Today, a number of them have taken up weapons and are fighting for their country.
RG: What are the issues of indigenous people in the Russian Federation presided over by Vladimir Putin?
PS: The biggest tragedy at the moment is that people in Russia’s indigenous communities are being called to serve in the war in Ukraine.
This is especially concerning since many of these communities are not fully informed about what is going on in Ukraine thanks to Russian propaganda, which tells them that they are going to free the country from ‘Banderites’ (from the name of Stepan Bandera, a far-right Ukrainian politician of the last century) and Nazis.
Unemployment is quite high in these communities. They are being promised huge sums of money to enlist and fight.
I would like to underscore that most Russian indigenous communities are small in number and the loss of a few members may be a big one for such groups. For instance, my people, the Udege, live in four villages and number 1,600 people.
The other issue that I see as very important is of food and groceries and whether people will receive them. I am also concerned about medical care since most of these communities do not have hospitals and are forced to travel to seek medical care.
Now, with the value of the rouble declining and living costs increasing, I am worried that people may not be able to receive proper medical care or medicines.
Of course, the ongoing issues of land seizures and violation of our environmental rights will continue and possibly become more difficult to address given the current wartime situation and its impacts on government.
RG: Russia has the largest shoreline in the Arctic, which is now melting. What changes will take place in the Russian Arctic given that President Putin has voiced its full exploitation?
PS: There are definitely some significant causes for concerns. Russia has extensive plans for exploiting Arctic resources, especially oil and gas.
It is my belief that due to the lack of technical support from western companies, they will be forced to delay these projects. They are just not in a position currently to implement them.
RG: Will the war in Ukraine affect the environment in the wider region?
PS: There is certainly the potential for significant complications. I am watching the situation quite closely, specifically with regard to Russia’s takeover of the Chernobyl site and the Zaporozhia nuclear power station.
I am worried about the possibility of Putin making use of biological weapons in the region. Let us hope that does not happen.
Of course, the impacts in Ukraine are terrible. The bombs, the planes and the technology that has been used there has a high degree of toxicity and will have an impact on communities.
RG: What are the similarities and differences between the USSR and Putin’s Russia, especially in terms of political economy?
PS: There are huge differences in basic economic terms. Russia delayed in developing it but it still has a market economy, which did not exist in the Soviet era.
But things are much worse today than in the Soviet Union. The Soviet economy and nation were self-contained. They produced everything themselves even though it was not of good quality. That is gone in today’s Russia. Putin has buried manufacturing and industry.
For instance, the domestic commercial airline industry entirely depends on Boeing and Airbus planes. Seventy per cent of their parts have to be imported. Even the Russian car industry depends on imported parts.
One thing that the Soviet regime does share with Putin’s Russia is the lack of concern for the people. The soldiers sent to the frontline in Ukraine are novices. They are not prepared for this kind of undertaking and are essentially cannon fodder.
The famous Soviet military commander, Georgy Zhukov, when asked about losses on the front, is known to have said: No problem. The mothers will bear more children.
Putin is the same.
We see this in Volodymyr Zelensky’s frequent ceasefire proposals for prisoner exchanges, evacuations and collecting the dead. But Putin refuses to engage. It shows that he just does not care.
RG: How has Putin fared in conserving wildlife and biodiversity?
PS: I have two answers to this. First, I would say that Putin couldn’t care less about environment and ecology. But Putin’s regime does have some accomplishments with regards to environmental conservation.
But these accomplishments are focussed in the public relations sphere rather than meaningful conservation and protection. When we talk about the Amur tiger, it is an achievement.
In conversations I have had with conservationists, they say ‘You Udege people are lucky. Putin loves your tiger.’
At some point, Putin decided that he was going to be the biggest protector of tigers in the world. He proposed a global programme that involved the heads of six tiger range countries. He wanted to host the first tiger summit. It was supposed to take place this autumn in Vladivostok near my homeland. But I don’t think it will take place now.