Numerically Small Peoples in Russian Federation More Likely to Be Overwhelmed and Replaced by Immigrants than are Larger Nations, KPRF Duma Deputy Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 22 – The fiercest opponents of immigration into the Russian Federation should be “not the Russians but the numerically small peoples” because they are more likely to be overwhelmed and replaced by immigrants, according to Mikhail Matveyev, an KPRF Duma deputy.

            “There are still more than 100 million ethnic Russians,” he says, and so those who want to see them ruled by ‘a great caliphate’ are going to have to wait for some time.” But it is entirely possible that immigrants could easily overwhelm the smaller peoples of the Russian Federation and form new Kosovos (iarex.ru/news/150639.html).

            Matveyev cites Sakha (Yakutia) as one place where this could happen especially since the republic’s leadership is promoting immigration from Central Asian and South Caucasus countries. If republic leaders succeed, it is not hard to imagine that the Yakuts will be overwhelmed.

            That is something people in that republic should think about instead of being anti-Russian.