With the beginning of mobilization in Russia, anti-war and anti-mobilization protests broke out in the Russian Far East, mostly performed by women. [1] Former Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj protested against usage of ethnic minorities such as the Buryats, Tuvans, and Kalmyks as cannon fodder, [2] and invited them to Mongolia. [3] The Tuvans belong to Turkic peoples but are also regarded in Mongolia as one of the Uriankhai peoples. [4]
Women protested in Ordzhonikidze Square, in Yakutsk. [5] Some elderly men were conscripted by mistake. [6]
Small groups protested in Ulan-Ude under handwritten signs “No war! No mobilization!” and “Our husbands, fathers and brothers don’t want to kill other husbands and fathers.” [7] The Free Buryatia Foundation collects appeals for help from families of mobilised men. Alexandra Garmazhapova, president of the foundation, some local people try to go to Mongolia. [8]
Marina Salomatova, a member of the “Transbaikal Civil Solidarity”, has been arrested in Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai. [10] [11]
Women protested against mobilization in Kyzyl, 20 of them were arrested. [12]
The Buryats are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their titular homeland, the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia which sprawls along the southern coast and partially straddles Lake Baikal. Smaller groups of Buryats also inhabit Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug and the Agin-Buryat Okrug which are to the west and east of Buryatia respectively as well as northeastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China. They traditionally formed the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.
The Tuvans or Tyvans are a Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Siberia that live in Tuva, Mongolia, and China. They speak the Tuvan language, a Siberian Turkic language. In Mongolia, they are regarded as one of the Uriankhai peoples.
Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as secretary of the Security Council since 2024. He served as Minister of Defence of Russia from 2012 to 2024. Shoigu has served as the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States since 2012.
Tuva or Tyva, officially the Republic of Tuva, is a republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the federal subjects of the Altai Republic, Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Khakassia, and Krasnoyarsk Krai, and shares an international border with Mongolia to the south. Tuva has a population of 336,651. Its capital city is Kyzyl, in which more than a third of the population reside.
The Soyot are an ethnic group of Samoyedic and Turkic origin who live mainly in the Oka region in the Okinsky District in Buryatia, Russia. They share much of their history with the Tofalar, Tozhu Tuvans, Dukha, and Buryat; the Soyot have taken on a great deal of Buryat cultural influence and were grouped together with them under Soviet policy. Due to intermarriage between Soyots and Buryats, the Soyot population is heavily mixed with the Buryat. In 2000, they were reinstated as a distinct ethnic group.
Mongols in China, also known as Mongolian Chinese, are ethnic Mongols who live in China. They are one of the 56 ethnic groups recognized by the Chinese government.
Historically, Buddhism was incorporated into Siberia in the early 17th century. Buddhism is considered to be one of Russia's traditional religions and is legally a part of Russian historical heritage. Besides the historical monastic traditions of Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia, the religion of Buddhism is now spreading all over Russia, with many ethnic Russian converts.
Soyot is an extinct and revitalizing Turkic language of the Siberian Sayan branch similar to the Dukhan language and closely related to the Tofa language. Two dialects/languages are spoken in Russia and Mongolia: Soyot in the Okinsky District of the Republic of Buryatia (Russia) and Tsaatan in the Darkhad valley of Mongolia.
Alexander Prokopievich Gabyshev is a Yakut shaman and anti-Putin political dissident. After being arrested and sentenced to involuntary confinement in a psychiatric hospital multiple times, his case has sparked condemnation of the political abuse of psychiatry in Russia.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, anti-war demonstrations and protests broke out across Russia. As well as the demonstrations, a number of petitions and open letters have been penned in opposition to the war, and a number of public figures, both cultural and political, have released statements against the war.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, that began on 24 February 2022, has had a significant impact on women across Ukraine and Russia, both as combatants and as civilians. In Ukraine, the invasion has seen a significant increase in women serving in the military as well as a significant number of women leaving the country as refugees. In Russia, women have led the anti-war movement.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in late February 2022, more than 300,000 Russian citizens and residents are estimated to have left Russia by mid-March 2022, at least 500,000 by the end of August 2022, and an additional 400,000 by early October, for a total of approximately 900,000. This number includes economic migrants, conscientious objectors, and some political refugees.
The Free Buryatia Foundation is an advocacy group focused on the Russian federal subject of Buryatia. The foundation is located in Alexandria, Virginia, United States.
Separatism in Russia refers to bids for secession or autonomy for certain federal subjects or areas of the Russian Federation. Historically there have been many attempts to break away from the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union but modern separatism took shape in Russia after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union and the annexation of Crimea. Separatism in modern Russia was at its biggest in the 1990s and early 2000s. The topic became relevant again after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The primary causes of separatism are nationalism in the republics, economic dependency, and geographic isolation. The promotion of separatism is illegal in Russia.
On 21 September 2022, seven months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia declared a partial mobilization of military reservists. The decision was made a day after the announcement of the Russian annexation of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
The general mobilization in the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic began on 19 February 2022, 5 days before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Tens of thousands of local residents were forcibly mobilized for the war.
With the beginning of mobilization in Russia, anti-war and anti-mobilization protests broke out in Chechnya, Dagestan and other regions of the Russian Caucasus.
Yakut nationalism refers to the belief that the Yakuts should constitute an independent nation. Some attempts have been made to create an independent state for the Yakut people, such as the Tungus Republic, while others aimed for higher autonomy within Russia, such as the Yakut revolt.
The Buryat liberation movement is the centuries-long social and military confrontation of ethnic Buryats against the Russian Empire, which actually colonized the region. In modern history - rallies and actions against the policy of the Russian Federation.
Buryat Genocide - repressions, ethnic cleansing, mass forced resettlement by the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the modern Russian Federation against the Buryat people.