The non -Russian world

Because of the war in Ukraine, Russian national minorities are aware of themselves in a new way. This is how it happens

According to Mediazons, at least 1744 Russian military died in the war with Ukraine. Most of them are young people from poor regions; Often these are representatives of the so -called national minorities - Buryats, Altai, Ossetians, and so on. After February 24, many people of non -stitter nationality in Russia began to realize themselves again - and felt the need to distance themselves from Moscow and unite with fellow countrymen. Anti -war national movements also arise - for example, the Free Buryatia Foundation. “Cold” tried to figure out how ethnic minorities were experiencing the war - and what they are doing to stir with it.

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In the mid-1980s, parents gave Masha Barlukov to kindergarten in Novosibirsk. On the first day, other children threw her on the snow and beat her. Now Mary is 40 years old, she changed her last name (now she is Vyushkova, by her husband), but she still remembers that they then said: “Why do your hair is black? You are probably dirty and do not wash. ” So the girl realized that she differs from the people who live next to.

Vyushkova - Buryat. Her parents moved to Novosibirsk when they studied at universities. It was not easy for them to gain a foothold in the city - the family often moved, and the daughter lived for a long time with her grandmother in Buryatia and went to school there for several years. The kindergarten, as it turned out, was only a beginning: in the Novosibirsk school, Masha was constantly called "narrow -eyed"; In the second year of the university, where she studied for a chemist, a teacher of probability theory even said about the girl that “she is too smart for her nationality,” because she wrote a well. Another teacher spoke of the Mongolian peoples that they "stepped from the yurt to socialism."

When Vyushkova began working in one of the research institutes of Akademgorodok, a colleague released inappropriate jokes to her, portraying “narrow eyes”. The girl did not like all this very much, but she was used to it: everyday discrimination has become for her as "the air you breathe."

Nevertheless, the girl did not feel safe in Novosibirsk-especially since in the 2000s she increasingly began to hear about attacks on people of non-Slavic appearance. When Vyushkova defended the dissertation in 2010, she was offered a job at an American university; Now she lives in Palo Alto, one of the main cities of Silicon Valley, and collaborates with IBM. “I was not interested in politics,” Vyushkova admits. “Only my quantum calculations were worried and nothing more.”

Everything changed on February 24, when Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Almost immediately, reports began to come that the Buryats were in captivity, and Vyushkova made from this conclusion that there were many fellow countrymen in the war. “For me, this is not a question of politics, but conscience, elementary humanity and common sense,” she explains. “I realized that I had to do something.” On February 28, Vyushkova printed the poster "Stop Putin" and went to the rally in San Francisco. Buryats in other countries did the same. Representatives of the diaspora in other countries contacted each other, shot anti -war videos and gathered together on promotions with the slogans "Buryats Against Putin's War". So spontaneously appeared the Buryat anti -war movement.

“At rallies we were constantly asked which organization we represent. So we decided to make the Free Buryatia fund, ”says Vyushkova. - The war, like a vampire, sucks young blood from my people - and of course, I now feel my identity brighter. It became very important for me that I am a drill and I am against the war. ”

Answer to the Russian world

In Russia, discrimination to one degree or another affects everyone who does not comply with the “Russian-brisk standard” according to ethnic, religious, racial attribute, says the journalist, author of the regional country and telegram channel about the regionalism of Todar Bactemir. “The normativeness framework, outside of which people are discriminated, are very narrow, and at the same time change from man to person and from region to region,” he argues. “From discrimination and xenophobia, no one is safe in principle.”

According to Natalya Yudina, an expert at the SOVA Center, who analyzes crimes on the basis of hatred, since the beginning of the 2000s in Russia many neo-Nazi groups have been acting, which have committed crimes against ethnic minorities and migrants with impunity. “After the collapse of the USSR, many migrants came to Russia, which gave rise to a certain opposition. And they are not hit by a passport, so they attacked those who differed in appearance, ”says Yudina. According to Owls, the peak of crime on the basis of hatred reached in 2008.

In December 2010, in Moscow, in a skirmish with immigrants from the North Caucasus, the fan of Spartak Egor Sviridov died. Among the football fans there were always many radical nationalists: the actions of the murdered memory eventually resulted in a spontaneous rally on Manezhnaya Square and mass riots, and Vladimir Putin personally met representatives of fans.

After that, the authorities took up the nationalists seriously. Over the next few years, all organized nationalist movements have been defeated or co -optized by the Kremlin; With the start of the work of the “E” centers , which we know them now, the ultra -right ones began to be actively planted. According to Yudina, at this moment the level of radical violence fell. “At the same time, the level of impregnable dormant ethnic xenophobia does not change much, this is evident from the polls,” adds the expert of the owl center. “The police, of course, haunts everyone who can, but it is worth a little weaken [control], how a new surge of violence will happen.”

In 2014, after the Kyiv Euromaidan, state Russian media began to actively talk about Ukrainian “Nazis” and “Bandera”. Yudin believes that because of this, it was “not comme il faut” about nationalists in Russia, and crimes on the basis of hatred began to deliberately silence. According to Owls, in 2021 at least 63 people were injured from such crimes; Three of them died.

Kalmyk Aldar Erendenov survived the modern history of Russian xenophobia on a personal example. In 2007-2008, when he studied at the faculty of international relations in MGIMO, he fought with skinheads in the subway several times: “They shouted that I was a narrow-eyed and non-Russian one.” During the session in the second year, Erandenov quarreled with the teacher of the English language, and he was expelled: “The teacher did not set off the two Armenians to me. I hoped for my knowledge and tried to prove my innocence. The teacher dropped: "Damn non -Russian." I sent it to three letters and slapped the door. The career of the diplomat did not take place. ” Erendenov jokes that if he had “swallowed” the insult of the teacher, now he would be a Russian attachment in Pyongyang.

After the expulsion, he returned to Elista, studied at the Kalmyk State University at the Eastfacing and then even taught in it the history of Russia, which at one time took prizes in the school All -Russian Olympiad: “I remember, at the awarding, the chairman of the commission was indignant that all the prize -winners were non -Russian: Tatar, Bashkir and Kalmyk.” In 2013, Erendhenov and his wife created a brand of clothing 4 Oirad, which popularizes the culture of small peoples: Kalmyk, Buryat, Altai topics, Buddhism, Tengrianism, shamanism. In 2019, the Erandenovs moved to Moscow to develop their business. Aldar thought that the city had changed and buried, but ran into problems, already when he tried to find housing.

As Erandenov recalls when he introduced himself by phone to realtors or owners of apartments, he almost always came across xenophobia. "Aldar? Are you non -Russian, or what? We are not handing over to the non -Russian. ” “Are you a Muslim? We do not hand over Muslims ”(Kalmyks - Buddhists). “You will probably bring your 30 people and put us an apartment.”

Kalmyk designer could not find the apartment. As a result, his family lived in a loft for two years at one of the former Moscow factories - through the wall from the sewing and printed workshop, where they produce clothes. When the pandemic began, and Erandenova’s wife became pregnant, they returned to Elista.

After the start of the war, a billboard appeared in the capital of Kalmykia in support of Russian troops with the inscription "I am Kalmyk, but today we are all Russians." When Eradenov saw him, he remembered the T -shirts popular with the nationalists: the white inscription with the traditional Cyrillic font “I am Russian” on a black background. 4 Oirad decided to beat these phrases and released things with a “non -Russian” print - this word is written in the same Cyrillic font as the nationalists. “This is the answer to the Russian world, because in fact we have our own non -Russian world,” explains Erandenov. - We wanted to make the word “non -Russian”, which is used as an insult, positive. I am non -Russian, and I am proud of it. ”

In April, the Erandenovs moved with their business to Mongolia, fearing that Russian security forces could be interested in them because of an anti-war position. When asked why they chose this particular country for relocation, the designer replies: “They don’t look at us like a second -class people.”

The spiritual frame of the country

The national question in Russia is a complex and unresolved problem. On the one hand, the constitution is written on behalf of the "multinational people, connected by a common fate on their land." Representatives of the authorities regularly appeal to this multinationality - for example, Vladimir Putin at the beginning of the war, speaking of the lad from Dagestan, who died in Ukraine, who died in Ukraine, said : “I am a Russian man, as they say, I have a circle of Ivana da Maria, but when I see examples of such heroism, <...> I want to say: I am a lacquer, I am a Dagestan, I am a Dagestan. Chechen, Ingush, Russian, Tatar, Jew, Mordvin, Ossetian. ”

On the other hand, at a press conference in 2018, to the question of the journalist of the Dagestan GRK, Elena Eskina, does the president not notice that in a large multinational country they show only “beautiful children” with blond hair and large blue eyes and that the Slavic appearance is in the Kremlin regiment, Putin answered: “It seems to you”. Most recently, on April 20, the president publicly mocked the Bashkir language, distorting the name of the Ufa cafe as an “iPad, freebie”.

Household xenophobia has always been a common thing for Russian politicians, but in recent years, according to Todar Bactemir, the Kremlin seriously turned to imperial stamps and promotes the dominance of the Russian people as a state -forming one. The journalist connects this with the effect of Russian Spring in the Donbass in 2014.

One of the manifestations of such state policy is what is happening in Russia with national languages. In 2017, speaking at Yoshkar-Ola, the president said that the Russian language is the “natural spiritual frame of the country”, “everyone should know it,” and it is unacceptable to reduce the level and time of teaching Russian. A year later, amendments were made to the law on education, against which linguists and language activists opposed . Formally, those students who do not consider them relatives were freed from teaching the state languages ​​of the national republics, but in fact it turned out differently. “For example, in the class there are more Russians than the Tatars, and the director is unprofitable to keep the Tatar language teacher due to low demand, so he could tell his parents:“ Let us write that your native language is Russian, do you like Pushkin? ”-cites the example of Bactemir.

The question was especially acute in Tatarstan: there, some schools openly resisted the orders of the prosecutor's office to reduce the number of Tatar lessons. In Udmurtia in 2019, by the building of the State Council in Izhevsk in protest, the honored scientist of the republic Albert Razin set himself up; Next to him lay a poster "and if my tongue disappears tomorrow, then I am ready to die today." Later, Razin died in the hospital.

It is difficult to fight the state in Russia - and as a result, activists observe how the teaching of the languages ​​of these republics gradually disappears from schools in the national republics: less hours is allocated on them, and training is made optional.

At the same time, almost all national and republican movements that advocated the independence of the regions, cultural autonomy and the promotion of national languages ​​were crushed by security forces, says Maria Kravchenko, head of the section “Unlawful Anti -Extremism”. For example, the authorities of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan methodically fought with national movements. In 2020, the Bashkir activist Ayrat Dilmukhametov was imprisoned for nine years for calls for compliance with federalism, which the court considered a call for separatism. The public leaders of Ingushetia, who protested against changes in the borders of the republics in favor of Chechnya, were sentenced to terms of seven and a half to nine years for extremism and opposition to security forces. Many regional activists who had such an opportunity left Russia.

However, the political and cultural struggle for the preservation of regional identities continues. The creator of the webzin about the life of ethnocultural communities in Russia AGASSHIN Sofya Jung Shin An, by the origin of the Jewish and Korean, says that after February 24, he observes the rise of anti -war and decolonial movements in Russia. Some arose even before the war, but reformatted for a new agenda (for example, the Asians of Russia community previously talked about the problems and traditions of the Asian peoples of Russia, and now publishes photos from protest and information about the dead military); Some appeared precisely because of the war-for example, created with the participation of Maria Vyushkova "Free Buryatia".

There are those who protest alone. For example, activist Aikhal Ammosov held several anti-war shares in Yakutsk-including a single picket at the memorial plane of the famous scientist-toponymist and honored teacher of the YAASSR Mikhail Ivanov (real name-Baghdaryyn Sulbe). Ammosov wrote a phrase on his poster in Yakutly; It translates like this: "The man of the sun is compassionate, the man is merciful, let there be no war." The first part of this phrase is the Yakut proverb, which calls for mercy and help to people in trouble, and the “Ayyy man” is one who leads a creative lifestyle, honors his culture, a small homeland, people around him and his ancestors. On April 25, Ammosov was detained , after two days the court fined him for 500 rubles for petty hooliganism - and after the trial the police immediately detained Ammosov again.

According to Sofya Jung Shin An, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, decolonal activists from around the world, every day release texts about imperialism, racism and discrimination in Russia. “As if the post -Soviet BLM is happening, not only in Russia, but also in the post -Soviet countries that have suffered from Russian aggression,” says the creator of Agasshin. - I feel that these ideas are growing like grass, very densely and horizontally. We are finally united, and this gives hope that we will win. ”

Live in spite

The aggravation of national identity against the background of war is a natural way to distance himself from the Kremlin’s policy and rhetoric, the journalist and researcher of regionalism Todar Bactemir believes. “Moscow sends people to fight to Ukraine. Would you do it independent Kazan? I don’t think, because the Tatars like a political nation have no complaints about the Ukrainians, ”he explains.

26-year-old Alina (name changed at her request) from St. Petersburg by mother of Moksha and Erzy, and a quarter of the gypsy for her father. She recently found her ethnic roots - they did not talk about it in the family. And the girl really began to feel her identity in the fall of 2021, when the conversations about the war began. “I understood why in my family they don’t speak any of the Finno-Ugric languages, why I have a Russian name, why my mother said that dad is Russian, why my grandparents did not give a damn where they were born,” she argues. “Their story was erased, it was easier for them to admit: they say, I am Russian, eat from me, please.”

With the beginning of the invasion, Alina realized that a hundred years ago with her ancestors did the same thing that is happening in Ukraine now. The girl felt “dead” and even thought to commit herself: “I wanted to go to the Palace Square and hang herself on the gates of the Winter Palace as a political gesture. But I realized that my grandfather in the bunker does not care about the Finno-Ugric girl, so I decided to live in spite of all. ”

Now Alina teaches Finnish as a certain compromise of the Finno-Ugric family, reads a lot about Finno-Ugric peoples, goes to the forest (according to the girl, this is an important part of the Finno-Ugric identity) and has ceased to be shy of its appearance. “I have very wide cheekbones, slightly rough facial features and very thin lips. I googled what the Finno-Ugers look like, and everything fell into place. I do not go to the conventional parameters of beauty, because I am not Russian and has never been to it. ”

After February 24, many people of a non -strategic nation use similar life strategies. 22-летняя алтайка Толунай (имя изменено по ее просьбе) начала осознавать свою идентичность, только когда переехала в Москву на учебу и обнаружила, что для многих ее родная культура — «это шаман, который бьет в бубен и танцует». После начала войны она перестала общаться с русскими, которые не понимали, о чем она говорит, когда рассказывает о ксенофобии. «С начала войны я поняла, что в нас не видят таких же членов общества, — говорит Толунай. — Мне захотелось дистанцироваться и полностью перейти на алтайский язык».

Денацификация России

В фонде «Свободная Бурятия» сейчас состоит десять человек. По словам его вице-президента Виктории Маладаевой, в основном они находятся за границей — но в фонд постоянно обращаются люди из России. «Мы не хотим подвергать опасности наших земляков в России, — объясняет она. — Пишем, что нужно понимать риски, такие у нас законы, что есть угроза до 15 лет заключения [по статье о “фейках”]».

Активисты «Свободной Бурятии» постоянно выпускают антивоенные видеоролики: «Нас триггернула “денацификация Украины”. Мы постоянно сталкиваемся с дискриминацией в нашей стране — где денацификация России?». Одной из своих задач фонд видит изменение имиджа своего народа, к которому приклеился ярлык «боевых бурятов Путина»: сначала после истории танкиста Доржи Батомункуева , который обгорел в Дебальцево в 2015 году, а потом — после видеообращения прокремлевских активистов из Иркутска к «перепуганным украинцам».

Также фонд проводит юридические консультации; составляет инструкции для военнослужащих, которые хотят уволиться, чтобы не воевать; выступает за санкции против региональных чиновников — например, главы Бурятии Алексея Цыденова и депутатов Народного хурала, поддержавших войну. Мария Вьюшкова отвечает в фонде за аналитическую работу: она составляет списки этнических бурятов из России, которые погибли в Украине, по открытым источникам.

Как пишет издание «Люди Байкала», первые гробы в Бурятию пришли в начале марта; с тех пор похороны военных проходят почти каждый день. По данным «Медиазоны», республика занимает второе место по количеству официально признанных погибших (85 человек), больше — только в Дагестане (125). Военные части, расквартированные в Москве и Петербурге, официально потеряли 13 человек.

Вьюшкова уже насчитала 150 погибших из Бурятии, Забайкальского края и Иркутской области. При том, что буряты в республике составляют 29,5% населения, среди погибших из Бурятии их 44%. «Видно, что буряты на этой войне погибают диспропорционально, а народ у нас очень маленький, 400 с чем-то тысяч человек в стране, — говорит Вьюшкова. — Буряты составляют всего 0,3% от населения России, а среди официально погибших их 2,8%. Потери приобретают масштаб национальной катастрофы».

Чтобы понять масштаб этой катастрофы, Вьюшкова приводит для сравнения официальные данные за десять лет афганской войны: 26 человек из Бурятии погибли, двое пропали без вести. Похожая статистика — в Астраханской области, откуда родом Тодар Бактемир: власти признали смерть 22-х военнослужащих в Украине, из них 18 человек — казахи (такой вывод Бактемир сделал по ФИО, месту рождения и фото), которые составляют всего 16% населения региона.

25-летняя кабардинка Зарема (имя изменено по ее просьбе) работает журналисткой в Ставрополе. Три ее одноклассника и двоюродный брат уехали на войну; в каждой семье ее родного города под Нальчиком есть кто-то, кто уехал воевать. Зарема считает, что солдат с Кавказа отправляли в Украину в первую очередь; ее источники говорят то же самое. «Мало того, что война сама по себе очень гадкая, так еще и в качестве пушечного мяса использовали тех, кого не жалко», — возмущается она. Ее двоюродный брат служил по контракту, как и многие, он уехал «на учения», а оказался на войне. Через неделю, по словам Заремы, он вернулся, написал рапорт и уволился: «Их туда отправили, не дав нормальное вооружение, они не могли не то что кого-то убивать, а даже защищаться. Они поняли, что их отправили умирать».

В том, что большая часть военных — выходцы из проблемных областей и республик, есть причины социально-экономического характера: о них рассказывал «Холоду» политолог из Центрально-Европейского университета Кирилл Шамиев. «Ребята из депрессивных регионов заканчивают школу, и перед ними встает выбор, что делать дальше. Военная служба понятна, в ней есть идеологическая гражданская позиция — ты защищаешь свою страну, — объясняет исследователь. — При этом по региональным стандартам за это платят хорошие деньги и дают социальную поддержку: квартиру и здравоохранение». Средняя зарплата в России по контракту составляет 32 тысячи рублей в месяц. Семьям погибших в Украине военных Путин обещал 7,4 миллиона страховых обеспечений и единовременных пособий.

«Насилуют и убивают не только русские, но и татары, казахи и все остальные в составе российской армии, — признает Бактемир. — Но сам факт, что они там оказались, говорит о том, что они еще и жертвы имперского режима».

Алтайка Толунай 14 марта похоронила троюродного брата — он был контрактником и воевал в Украине. В ее семье погибшего почитают как героя: к его родителям приезжали замглавы республики Алтай и представитель генпрокуратуры, чтобы рассказать о его подвигах. Теперь в семье Толунай о войне плохо не говорят — это считается предательством.

«Я не понимаю, за что воевал мой брат. За русский мир? For what? Он алтаец, оба его родителя алтайцы, у него осталось двое детей, младшего он даже не успел увидеть, — возмущается Толунай. — Я не знаю, как донести до родных этот нонсенс. Нас в России 70 тысяч человек, и нас отправляют туда воевать. Люди в алтайских национальных костюмах выстраиваются в букву Z. При этом у единственной школы [в регионе], в которой алтайскому языку учат с первого класса, даже своего здания нет. Его не могут построить уже много лет».