{"id":35312,"date":"2024-02-06T14:58:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T19:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=35312"},"modified":"2024-02-06T15:02:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T20:02:44","slug":"the-conversation-indigenous-activists-targeted-even-after-leaving-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/02\/06\/the-conversation-indigenous-activists-targeted-even-after-leaving-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Conversation: Indigenous activists targeted even after leaving Russia"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Pavel<\/a>
Pavel Sulyandziga is seen at a meeting of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation in Russia in 2011. Photo: The Presidential Press and Information Office \/ President of the Russian Federation (kremlin.ru)<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Long after Indigenous activists flee Russia, they continue to face government \r\npressure to remain\u00a0silent<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, February 6, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Laura A. Henry<\/a> (Bowdoin College<\/a>)<\/div>\r\n
The Conversation<\/div>\r\n
theconversation.com<\/A><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\nPavel Sulyandziga, an Indigenous activist and member of the Udege people of Russia\u2019s far eastern region, arrived in the United States in 2017 to seek political asylum.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSulyandziga joined his wife and their five children, who were already living in Maine. They left following numerous threats to Sulyandziga\u2019s personal safety, as well as to his family members and colleagues, because of his political activism.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSulyandziga\u2019s request for political asylum<\/a> in the U.S. is still pending, part of a large backlog of asylum cases before immigration judges.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nToday, however, Sulyandziga, 61, and his family members continue to be harassed by the Russian government.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSulyandziga is one of among 260,000 people who are recognized as Indigenous<\/a> and who are from Russia. Indigenous peoples living in Russia have long fought for recognition<\/a> of their rights as native peoples and to protect their traditional territory, which is often located in areas that are used for natural resource extraction, such as mining.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nBut recent research<\/a> shows that Indigenous activists are fleeing Russia because of growing repression. Sometimes, they are being charged with working on behalf of foreign governments, or they are facing false accusations of corruption.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nBeyond repression at home, the Russian government is increasingly trying to silence activists like Sulyandziga even after they leave Russia.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThis kind of harassment is called transnational repression<\/a>, and it means that Indigenous activists are vulnerable in exile as well as at home.

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Indigenous people of Russia<\/div>\r\n\r\nThe Soviet Union officially recognized the many identities and languages of Indigenous peoples living within its borders. But Soviet officials also pressured Indigenous people to abandon their traditional, religious and livelihood practices<\/a> in order to more easily incorporate them in the Communist regime.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSince the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has legally recognized 47 Indigenous peoples<\/a>, though more than 150 groups claim Indigenous status<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThere was a flowering of Indigenous activism in Russia during the more open politics of the 1990s. Between 1999 and 2001, the government passed several new laws<\/a> ensuring Indigenous rights, such as cultural autonomy and access to territories traditionally used for hunting and pastureland.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nBut Indigenous peoples remain among the most socially and economically marginalized groups in Russia.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSocioeconomically, their health<\/a>, educational and economic outcomes<\/a> are significantly worse than the average Russian citizen. They face extensive dislocation and pollution from natural resource extraction<\/a>, including oil and gas drilling.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nMany also live in areas particularly vulnerable to climate change<\/a>.

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Indigenous activism and Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine<\/div>\r\n\r\nRussia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has created new problems for Indigenous communities in Russia.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nDriven by poverty and patriotic appeals, young men from Indigenous communities enlist in the military in disproportionately high numbers<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nPreliminary research<\/a> indicates that soldiers from impoverished and remote regions and from ethnic minority groups die in the conflict in disproportionately high numbers.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nGovernment harassment of Indigenous activists from Russia has also intensified since 2022<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nLike Sulyandziga, a number of Indigenous activists have left Russia over the past few years to protect themselves and their families<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSome Indigenous exiles have exercised their new freedoms by protesting Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine<\/a>. Sulyandziga has also been vocal in his opposition to the war<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nHowever, an activist\u2019s decision to go into exile to escape persecution does not always mean the end of repression.

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The Russian government\u2019s pressure on Indigenous people<\/div>\r\n\r\nThe Russian government uses the tools of transnational repression<\/a> against Indigenous activists who have left Russia. These include damaging activists\u2019 reputations in media coverage, initiating spurious legal cases, confiscating their property and harassing relatives and colleagues who remain in Russia.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nBy increasing the risks of speaking out, the government discourages Indigenous activists from trying to influence the political situation back home and attempts to silence their concern about the survival of their people.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nRuslan Gabbasov, an activist from the Bashkir ethnic minority in the Russian region of Bashkortostan, left his homeland in 2021 due to increasing pressure on his activism. He was the leader of an organization to protect Bashkir cultural and language rights that the government labeled as \u201cextremist.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n\r\nGabbasov received political asylum in Lithuania, where he started a new organization \u2013 the Committee of the Bashkir National Movement Abroad. His half brother, Rustam Fararitdinov, has never been involved in political activism.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nBut in November 2023, Fararitdinov was arrested by Russian security agents<\/a>. Gabbasov reports that he has heard<\/a>, \u201cIf I return to Russia, they will release him; if not, they will imprison him.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n\r\nIn Sulyandziga\u2019s case, a Russian regional court charged him in November 2023 with an increasingly widely used<\/a> charge of \u201cdiscrediting the Russian military.\u201d The court cited an online lecture by Sulyandziga<\/a>, in which he criticized the Russian government\u2019s historical treatment of Indigenous communities.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nFollowing the charge, Sulyandziga said that his adult son, who lives in Vladivostok, has been chronically harassed by the Federal Security Service in relation to the case, subjected to repeated questioning and threatening language.

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