‘Russia is Killing Buryats but Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are Saving Them,’ Garmazhapova Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 4 – At present, Aleksandra Garmazhapova says, the Putin regime is “killing Buryats but Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are saving them” largely because the latter nations see themselves as the common victims of Russian imperialism and because Buryats can enter their territories without the need for a foreign passport or a visa.

            Thousands of Buryats have already moved to those two countries, the organizer of the Free Buryatia Foundation says in an interview from Astana where she is now coordinating assistance for the Buryats there. She notes that her colleagues have also opened an office in Ulan-Bator because many Buryats have gone there (rfi.fr/ru/россия/20221004-бурятская-правозащитница-россия-убивает-бурятов-а-казахстан-и-кыргызстан-их-спасают).

Garmazhapova says she and other Buryats are encouraged by the support they have received from these three countries, from Buryat diasporas in the West, and from other non-Russians who feel that they need to help the Buryats who have been under particular pressure during Putin’s war lest the Kremlin leader turn his fire on them.

But at the same time, she continues, Buryats are furious about Putin’s efforts to put a Buryat face on his war in Ukraine and about the fact that the leaders he has imposed on their republic do not speak Buryat even if they are ethnic Buryats and protect their children from being called to serve while insisting that others do.

Republic head Aleksey Tsydenov doesn’t speak Buryat and hasn’t learned despite being in office for five years. That contrasts with Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine who originally spoke only Russian but now speaks Ukrainian. According to the activist, it is more important that those in power show such respect than that they be members of the titular nationality.

“The first president of the Republic of Buryatia was an ethnic Russian, but he was born in Buryatia, lived and died in Buryatia, and spoke Buryat perfectly. I prefer such a president who respects the culture and traditions of my people,” Garmazhapova says. “It isn’t important what his nationality is.”

Putin’s talk about “de-Nazifying” Ukraine led her to organize a flashmob on VKontakte named “De-Nazification of Russia.” She says she expected she would hear “only from Asians or Caucasians” who have also talked about the need for that. But members of dozens of other nationalities responded with messages of agreement and support.

That is an indication that nationalist and regionalist movements are on the rise in all parts of the Russian Federation, Garmazhapova says, adding that when Ukraine defeats Russia in Putin’s war against it, all of them will gain their freedom.