Navalny Activist Winning Support for Maintaining List of Chuvash Killed in Ukraine

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 17 – One of the most frequently heard criticisms of Aleksey Navalny has been that he is a Russian nationalist with little regard for the non-Russian third of the population. But Semyon Kochkin, the former head of the Navalny staff in Chuvashia, is winning support for maintaining a list of those Chuvash who have died fighting in Ukraine.

            So far, at least 84 Chuvash have died there, Kochkin says; and their deaths deserve to be remembered, even if some of his colleagues think that they were fighting on the wrong side and describe them as “occupiers” (semnasem.org/articles/2022/10/17/zachem-eks-glava-shtaba-navalnogo-v-cheboksarah-vedet-podschet-pogibshih-v-ukraine-chuvashej-i-populyariziruet-chuvashskij-s-pomoshyu-antivoennyh-stikerov).

            To reach out to the Chuvash, he has used bumper speakers declaring that the Chuvash word for peace, Kileshu, means just that and launched a telegram channel, Angry Chuvashia (t.me/ChuvashiaDream), which not only maintains a list of those killed but calls attention to violations in mobilization and to anti-war actions in that Middle Volga republic.

            Kochkin’s actions are significant for three reasons: first, they are a sign that the Navalny organization may finally be reaching out to non-Russian groups; second, they suggest that feelings about losses in Ukraine are uniting nationalists with other anti-Kremlin groups; and third, they represent an early sign of how anti-war attitudes may become politically significant.  

            The activist who has been forced to flee to the Republic of Georgia lest he face trial and prison says that he does not expect open protests against the war or for secession in Chuvashia anytime in the near future. But he says that ever more Chuvash recognize that all their problems come from Moscow and are asking whether they’d be better off like independent Estonia.

            At the very least, there is a sizeable share of the population that wants “super” autonomy for Chuvashia, a share that is growing and radicalizing as the war in Ukraine continues, Kochkin continues. He says that he and others from Chuvashia hope to return home when Putin is gone and engage in the hard work of building a better future for that Christian Turkic people.