Sami people in Russia are being forced to hide their identity and live “outside the law” for fear of imprisonment and persecution, leading figures from the community have warned, after the government labelled dozens of Indigenous organisations terrorists and extremists.
In July, Russia’s ministry of justice added 55 Indigenous organisations to a list of terrorists and extremists, meaning that representatives of the groups – and anyone who takes part, cooperates or communicates with them – risk being sentenced to years in prison.
It is the latest in a long line of legislation restricting the rights of Indigenous people in Russia, including the introduction of a “register” of Indigenous people.
Many are trying to hide their Sami identity in an attempt to avoid being targeted by authorities, Sami activists said, while others are living in exile after seeking asylum in neighbouring Norway and Finland.
Andrei Danilov, a representative of the Sami People from the Kola peninsula who sought political asylum in Norway in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said: “Only activists have been persecuted in the past. Now they can imprison everyone who is in contact with them. I would compare this to the period of Soviet repression in the 1930s.”
“Many Sami will hide their nationality. As it was in Soviet times,” added Danilov, 53, who lives in a refugee camp in northern Norway and is unable to work because he does not yet have refugee status. “But it will be more difficult to do this in the age of digitalisation.”
Activists, he said, can be imprisoned for six or more years, and Sami people have no way of defending their rights. During the past two years, preparations have been under way to build a lithium deposit in the Fedorovya tundra of the Murmansk region, an important site for Sami people which they are being put under pressure to develop. If it is allowed to continue, the tundra will be destroyed for ever, said Danilov.
“The Indigenous peoples of Russia have become peoples outside the law. Migrants on their land without rights, without freedom of speech. And their lands have become colonies of the Kremlin under the laws of Putin’s regime,” he said.
The International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR) has sent a memorandum signed by about 100 Indigenous organisations citing Russia’s violations of the rights of Indigenous people and minorities to the UN. In the letter, they said Indigenous leaders have been “subjected to increasingly severe repression”, citing the death of Sergei Kechimov. The reindeer herder, who fought to protect the sacred Lake Imlor in Siberia from damage by oil companies, died from cancer earlier this year while under investigation.
Andrei Zhvavyi, 36, left his home in Lovozero in the Murmansk region two years ago and now lives in Finland where he is seeking political asylum. The Sami activist and member of Oosmo, a legal assistance and cultural heritage organisation in the Kola peninsula, said Sami people in Russia have been left with very little to protect their human rights, culture and language.
“People who are still in Russia will be careful in expressing their opinion on these issues because it could cost them their freedom,” he said, adding that the Sami community was losing its identity.
Aleksandr Slupachik, 35, is waiting in northern Norway for his asylum application to be processed after leaving Russia, where he was chair of Oosmo, two years ago after coming under pressure from the FSB. After waiting in a refugee camp in Norway for a year, he and his wife now live in a flat and work as cleaners.
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“It’s difficult to describe [how it was in Russia] because you’re all the time waiting for something to happen. You’re waiting for the police or special services to come and get something. And I was afraid the whole time before my wife left Russia.”
His last encounter with the FSB came three years ago when he announced that he was going to become Oosmo’s chair. They came to his work and questioned him and searched him. “They wanted to find something, but I had nothing … They asked me if I knew someone who participates in an extreme organisation and I said no.”
After he announced his opposition to the war in Ukraine, he was contacted by people he believes were connected to special intelligence services. He left after Russia’s mobilisation for fear of being imprisoned or hurt. The latest measures, outlawing Indigenous groups, could have a significant impact on the future of the Sami community, he said. “There will simply be no more leaders speaking about Sami issues.”
He knows of between 10 and 20 people who have had to go and fight in Ukraine. “It’s a big number because it’s a lot of young people and our community is maybe 2-3,000, and 20 young people is a very high number.”
He may never be able to return to Russia, he said. “I think they [Russia] want to have total control of Sami people. Control their voices, what they think about and everything. And I think they will build a new ideology.”
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