Paul Goble
Staunton, Aug. 7 – Kalid Qaraf, a Circassian repatriant from Syria who now lives in Kabardino-Balkaria, says he was called by the FSB and told he would be sent to fight in Ukraine unless he stopped searching for his son who had been and was killed there and talking about the travails of the Circassians inside Russia, according to Kavkaz-Uzel.
The news agency said it did not have independent confirmation, but both Kavkaz-Uzel and Circassian outlets said it was plausible given the way in which the KBR authorities have put pressure on returning Circassians to fight for Russia and keep quiet about their own aspirations (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/425525, oc-media.org/repatriated-circassian-reportedly-threatened-by-fsb/ and personal communication from editor of Justice for the North Caucasus).
Kalid Qaraf’s story is particularly heart-breaking. He returned to the North Caucasus homeland with his family. Then his son announced he was moving to Moscow, but he never got there, with Qaraf assuming he had and the Moscow friends that he had not yet come. When Kalid learned that, he tried to find out what had happened, even turning to Russian officials for help.
The official response was to tell him to stop his propaganda campaign and then to inform him that his son had already fought and died in Ukraine and that unless Kalid shut up, he too would be sent to fight in Ukraine, put on the front lines and suffer a similar fate, a threat that they expected would silence him but that has had the opposite effect.
Russian propagandists have now taken up the issue and pointed out to all who will listen that many Circassians who have returned are proud to fight for Moscow in Ukraine. Among them was the son of Kalid Qaraf. Moreover, these outlets insist that all the things that Kalid has said are untrue and politically motivated.
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