Since Putin Launched His Expanded War in Ukraine, ‘Fear and Silence’ have Become the Lot of Finno-Ugric Peoples in the Russian Federation, Estonian Scholar Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 12 – Since Putin launched his expanded war in Ukraine, Art Leete says, Moscow has stepped up its pressure on the Finno-Ugric nations of the Russian Federation to the point that “fear and silence” have become their lot. As a result, many in their number don’t speak out; and the world doesn’t know just how bad their situation has become.

            In an article for the weekly Estonian journal Sirp, the ethnologist at the University of Tartu says that Putin’s war has changed the lives of these nations  “by making public activity dangerous and forcing many to be silent” (sirp.ee/nuud-ei-julge-keegi-moelda/ discussed in Russian at mariuver.com/2025/08/12/chto-proishodit-s-finnougrami-v-rossii/#more-83084).

            The climate of fear has led many former activists to limit not only their contacts with scholars like himself abroad but also their contacts with each other, something that has led to a decline in the activity of national movements and allowed people selected by Moscow to present a false picture at international meetings.

            This has had an impact even on virtual communities, as ever more of those who used to report about the problems of the Finno-Ugric peoples stop posting lest anything they say be used to launch criminal cases against them. The result of all this is that the world doesn’t know just how bad the situation has become.

            According to Leete, there is every sign that Moscow is intensifying this crackdown and now is denouncing Finno-Ugric activists not just for the limited amount of comments they are still making but also for reports they made years ago, something that means far more Finno-Ugric people could fall victim to charges of extremism or worse.