Clashes Between Ethnic Diasporas and Russian Nationalist Groups on the Rise in Russia’s South

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 27 – Clashes between members of diaspora groups, including Roma, Kurds, Central Asians and North Caucasians, and indigenous ethnic Russians, always a feature of life there, are increasing in frequency and violence as the result of the actions of the Russian nationalist Russian Community organization which wants them expelled.

            Officials in Volgograd Oblast are sufficiently worried that they have set up a council on nationality policy, the first meeting of which took place a week ago. It includes representatives of all parties (kavkazr.com/a/nerusskim-zdesj-ne-rady-mezhnatsionaljnyy-konflikt-v-volgogradskoy-oblasti-i-reaktsiya-vlastey/33094468.html).

            But one former official, speaking on conditions of anonymity, says that tensions are getting worse as a result of the combination of demographic change and the activities of the Russian Community organization; and he predicts that the situation will continue to get worse until both of these issues are addressed.

            According to this official, “there are places in which the ‘indigenous’ population is entirely made up of elderly people. All the young are leaving, and coming in their place are citizens of Central Asian countries … The longer this process continues, the more such conflicts there will be.”

            But like other officials, he argues that there is “no serious nationalism in the region,” only grievances that take on an ethnic coloration largely because of the activities of the Russian Community organization whose branches are growing rapidly and often get involved in what are everyday clashes among residents.

            Developments across the Russian south confirm this pattern and suggest that until the Russian Community is reined in, there is a real risk of a serious explosion of ethnic conflict there (kavkazr.com/a/novye-russkie-kak-ustroena-i-chem-zanimaetsya-obschina-natsionalistov-na-yuge-rossii/33068943.html).

            But instead of moving against the Russian Community groups, officials in these regions all too often are using they as adjuncts to the police, an approach that is not only making clashes between ethnic groups more frequent and violence but also intensifying anger among the non-Russians about the Russian state (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/07/north-caucasus-officials-reliance-on.html).