The Kremlin is consistently increasing pressure on Russia's small indigenous peoples, combining repression, control over international discourse, and disproportionate involvement in the war against Ukraine. This is reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service, writes UNN.
In December 2025, Russian security forces detained at least 17 representatives of indigenous peoples from Altai, Sakha (Yakutia), Tomsk, Murmansk, and Kemerovo regions, and Krasnoyarsk Krai.
These are activists who have for years defended the rights of their communities and raised the issue of environmental degradation and the decline of traditional crafts.
They previously spoke at UN forums, warning that their peoples were on the verge of extinction.
These statements sharply contradict Moscow's official position that Russia is a "multinational state where the languages, cultures, and traditions of more than 190 peoples are preserved."
To create a controlled image on the international stage, the Kremlin has transformed the Association of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia, and the Far East of the Russian Federation into a completely loyal structure. Its representatives promote only positions agreed upon with the authorities, while openly supporting the war against Ukraine.
At the same time, 172 human rights organizations, members of the "Forum of Free States of the Post-Soviet Space" movement, report systematic violations of the rights of indigenous peoples. In Russia, this movement has been declared "terrorist" and banned.
In parallel, the physical extermination of small peoples through war continues. For example, in the Khabarovsk Krai, during mobilization, for every 10,000 residents, 34 ethnic Russians and 95 representatives of indigenous peoples were conscripted, which indicates their targeted use as "cannon fodder."
"Under the slogans of multinationality, the Kremlin is effectively depriving indigenous peoples of the right to exist - both culturally and physically," human rights activists note.