Shamans Support War in Ukraine in Hopes of Gaining Official Recognition as a Traditional Religion of Russia, But Experts Doubt That is Possible

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 18 – Earlier this month, shamans in nine cities and regions of the Russian Federation conducted a coordinated action in support of Putin’s war in Ukraine, an action many believe was driven in the first instance by a desire by some shamans to gain official recognition as the fifth “traditional” faith of the Russian Federation.

            Kara-ool Dopchun-oola, who styles himself the supreme shaman of Russia, has been pressing for such recognition for more than a year, but observers say that he is unlikely to succeed because shamanism by definition is not a unified faith and would not become one even with such official recognition (ng.ru/ng_religii/2022-10-18/12_538_shaman.html).

            In fact, even within the shamanist fraternity, there are grave doubts about the possibility of creating a unified shamanistic faith however much some in Moscow might like to see the emergence of such an organization that the authorities could then integrate into the official power vertical.

            And they point out that while most shamans in Russia do appear to support the war in Ukraine, they are extremely diverse in their views and traditions, with some drawing only on the traditional faiths of native peoples and others on shamanistic traditions that have their roots in Scandinavia or Europe more generally.

            That there can even be talk about a supreme shaman with his own organization and about including it in a religion alongside Orthodox, Islam, Buddhism or Judaism says far more about the nature of Russian thinking than it does about what shamanism and its traditions of animist faith are about.