The following is an appeal sent by various anti-war movements of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia and Indigenous activists to the United Nations in October 2022. The signees address the Russian Federation’s current mobilization order and its impact on Indigenous communities in the Sakha Republic. They call on the UN for assistance with Indigenous draftees needing asylum and seek solidarity and support from the international community. They make known their fervent denouncement of the violence and destabilization upon Russia has wrecked Ukraine in its unjust war on the sovereign nation. The undersigned self-identified anti-war movements and activists are Asians of Russia , Free Yakutia Foundation , Sakha Pacifist Association , Sakha Against the War, Ethnic Minorities of Russia against War (London) , Yakutia for Peace , Politsakha , Voices of Indigenous People of Russian Federation (Berlin), Anna Gomboeva , Asya Arkhipova, Aleksandr Popov , and others.
October 10, 2022
We, the undersigned public organizations, anti-war activists, and residents of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) call on the United Nations to urgently consider the problem of the ongoing ethnocide of the peoples of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) by the government of the Russian Federation. We ask the OHCHR to take measures to protect the lives of the Indigenous Peoples of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and their political, legal, economic, social, and cultural rights.
Since 2014, the Russian Federation has been pursuing an aggressive military policy against the sovereign state of Ukraine and its people. On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine with the objective of annexing its territory. During this war, the Russian authorities purposefully have been using Indigenous ethnic minorities from national republics as “cannon fodder”. This is evidenced by numerous independent studies conducted by anti-war movements led by nationals of the Russian Federation, among them Asians of Russia, Free Buryatia Foundation, Free Yakutia Foundation, Sakha Pacifist Association, Sakha vs War, New Tuva, Free Kalmykia, and others, who share gathered information through their social networks and channels on Instagram, Telegram, YouTube. Data collection is carried out manually by volunteers of the aforementioned movements and foundations due to the complete absence of official reliable statistics from the Russian authorities. According to estimates of anti-war activists, the death rate of soldiers from national republics exceeds the death rate of soldiers from the central regions of Russia by tens of times. Based on the collected statistical data on the mortality of military soldiers, national republics are in the lead: Buryatia, Tyva, North Ossetia, Dagestan, Kalmykia, and Sakha (Yakutia). the death rate of soldiers from national republics exceeds the death rate of soldiers from the central regions of Russia by tens of times. Based on the collected statistical data on the mortality of military soldiers, national republics are in the lead: Buryatia, Tyva, North Ossetia, Dagestan, Kalmykia, and Sakha (Yakutia). the death rate of soldiers from national republics exceeds the death rate of soldiers from the central regions of Russia by tens of times. Based on the collected statistical data on the mortality of military soldiers, national republics are in the lead: Buryatia, Tyva, North Ossetia, Dagestan, Kalmykia, and Sakha (Yakutia).
The situation deteriorated sharply after the “partial” mobilization announced by Mr. V. Putin on September 21, 2022. The mobilization turned an already dire situation into a concerted policy of ethnic cleansing of Indigenous Peoples, among them the peoples of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). We are witnessing a disproportionate mobilization of the Indigenous Peoples of Russia. So far, a total of 4,750 people from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) are subject to the first wave of mobilization – this is 1.66% of all able-bodied men in the republic. Overall, less than 1 million people live in the republic, of which only 45% are representatives of the Indigenous population: Evens, Evenks, Dolgans, Yukagirs, Chukchi, and Sakha.