How Russia is Failing Its Indigenous Arctic Population
Prioritizing higher earnings over higher standards of living
An Arctic Council Meeting between eight member nations in Iqaluit, Canada on April 24, 2015. Photo by of US Department of State.
The Arctic is the most prominent example of the detrimental effects of climate change. Over the past 30 years, this region has warmed two times faster than the rest of the world, resulting in melting sea ice and thawing permafrost, both of which threaten to release dangerous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and impact weather patterns around the globe. Now more than ever, countries must work together to protect the Arctic and its inhabitants, many of whom are Indigenous peoples.
Founded in 1996, the Arctic Council promotes cooperation among its eight member states: the United States, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Russia. There are also six Permanent Participant groups that represent these countries’ Indigenous populations. As outlined in the Ottawa Declaration, the Council prioritizes issues of sustainable development and environmental protection and does not discuss matters of military security.
In Spring 2021, Russia will assume a two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council, a position from which it can significantly impact the policies and programs put forward. In March 2020, Russia’s Senior Arctic Official Nikolay Korchunov stressed Russia’s plans to focus on not only environmental issues but also the Arctic’s “human dimension…including Indigenous peoples.” However, these appear to be empty promises, as Russia has recently gone to extreme lengths to silence Indigenous groups to protect their oil and gas resources.
Although Russia is home to 40 Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East, the combined population of these groups is only 260,000—less than 0.2 percent of Russia’s total population. Roughly two-thirds of the Indigenous population live in rural areas, and many rely on traditional methods of subsistence.
Eleven Russian Indigenous groups live inside the Arctic Circle and are extremely vulnerable to the effects of global warming. Many ancestral lands are located on melting permafrost, which destroys homes, shifts animal migration patterns, and inundates villages. These changes are not only dangerous but also threaten traditional ways of life. Practices such as reindeer herding and fish and game preservation have been disrupted, and residents are now frequently required to travel by boat to areas that had long been accessible on foot. Despite these hardships, many refuse to abandon their ancestral lands for fear of losing their culture.
The livelihoods of Indigenous populations are also under threat from Russian industry. Russia relies heavily on oil and gas; every year, these industries account for roughly 40 percent of the national budget. In September 2019, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak warned that Russia will reach peak oil production in 2021. To mitigate this oil plateau, Russia is now turning to the Arctic’s vast (and untapped) resources. According to the United States Geological Survey, approximately 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and 13 percent of its undiscovered oil are located in the Arctic. So far, Russia has discovered 43 large oil fields in its Arctic territory. The immense profits of oil and gas giants come at the expense of Indigenous populations. In May 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency after 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled into Siberia’s Ambarnaya River and traveled more than seven miles downstream. The spill has the potential to decimate the region’s biodiversity and threatens the livelihood of Indigenous fishers, hunters, and reindeer herders. Similarly, the Khanty people of western Siberia were forced from their ancestral lands due to destruction and pollution caused by oil drilling in the area. These are merely two of the many examples of Indigenous peoples’ suffering at the hands of the Russian oil and gas industries.
Russia’s economic interests in the Arctic are further fueled by the possibility of increasing shipping via the Northern Sea Route connecting Asia and Europe. Although the route has been largely inaccessible to Russia in the past, melting sea ice expands Russia’s opportunity to transport goods more efficiently; shipment through the Northern Sea Route to Western Europe is nearly two weeks faster than via the Suez Canal and does not require the permission of any Mediterranean powers. Russia has invested in a fleet of nuclear icebreakers and hopes to ship an annual 80 million tons through the Northern Sea Route by 2024.
These ambitions are directly contingent upon Russia’s oil and gas resources, as it plans to source fuel from new deposits in the Arctic. It is also important to note that as sea ice continues to melt, the Northern Sea Route becomes more valuable. Albeit Russia’s current economy depends on industries that contribute to climate change, its future prospects also grow thanks to gradually rising temperatures. Regardless of the suffering these industries cause Indigenous communities, it is not in Russia’s interests to reduce its commercial activity in the Arctic.
Not only has the Russian government failed to protect Indigenous peoples from the abuses of oil and gas companies, but it has also repeatedly failed to protect these groups’ interests on the international stage. In 2007, Russia abstained from voting on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which establishes a “universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world.” In 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded that “insufficient measures are being taken to protect the rights of indigenous peoples [in Russia] and to ensure that members of such peoples are recognized as indigenous.” It also noted that land important to Indigenous communities was “largely unprotected from desecration, contamination, and destruction by extractive, development, and related activities” and that these communities were insufficiently consulted during these processes. In its response to the Committee’s findings, Russia did not address any of these Indigenous rights violations.
Recently, Russia has also been working hard to silence Indigenous rights groups and activists. In 2014, Sergei Kechimov, an Indigenous Khanty reindeer herder and guardian of his community’s sacred Lake Imor, was charged with threatening to kill oil workers near his ancestral land. Kechimov denies the allegations, claiming that armed oil workers and a police officer forced him to sign a document. Due to Kechimov’s poor grasp of Russian, he did not realize that he was signing a written confession. This appears to be a clear violation of Kechimov’s rights and is an example of how Indigenous communities are routinely exploited and abused by Russian authorities.
Similarly, in November 2019, the Russian Ministry of Justice liquidated the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North (C.S.I.P.N.). This is especially significant because C.S.I.P.N. is the leading organization dedicated to Indigenous rights in Russia, the only such group that is recognized by international organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Ministry of Justice claimed C.S.I.P.N. was in violation of recent legislation regarding non-profit organizations, and Moscow City Court thwarted C.S.I.P.N.’s attempts to make the necessary changes to comply with the legislation, insisting instead on liquidation.
The disbandment of C.S.I.P.N. is the culmination of a years-long campaign against the organization. In September 2014, C.S.I.P.N. director Rodion Sulyandziga was en route to a U.N. World Conference on Indigenous Peoples when his passport was seized by the Russian Border Control. When Border Control returned the passport, it was damaged and thus unusable, preventing Sulyandziga from attending the conference. (Similarly, in 2016, Sulyandizga was detained and prevented from attending a Moscow-based forum on Indigenous rights.) In 2015, the Russian government named C.S.I.P.N. a “foreign agent.”
In an interview with The Moscow Times, Sulyandziga called C.S.I.P.N.’s liquidation “part of a trend to shut down organizations undesirable to the authorities.” Since 2018, Russia has been disbanding groups through its “Undesirable Organization” laws, which aim to eliminate “threat[s] to the fundamentals of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation.” Because the distinction between “desirable” and “undesirable” organizations is so arbitrary, the Russian government can use these laws to shut down any organization it pleases, even if there is no significant threat. In the case of C.S.I.P.N., the government likely felt that its oil and gas investments were at risk.
Another organization that has been targeted by the Russian government is the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON). In November 2012, the Ministry of Justice forced RAIPON to shut down. Several months later, however, RAIPON reopened with leadership aligned with Russia’s economic interests. According to Dmitry Berezhkov, RAIPON’s former vice president, the “immediate reason for the closure is Russia’s upcoming chairmanship of the Arctic Council.”
RAIPON is different from other Indigenous rights groups in that it is a Permanent Participant of the Arctic Council. Although Permanent Participants cannot vote, they are still given a platform to impact policy put forth by the Council. By dissolving RAIPON and completely replacing its leadership, Russia has erased all genuine representation of its Indigenous population from the Arctic Council. In Berezhkov’s words, “When negotiating with RAIPON, international organizations should understand that they are faced with an illegitimate representation of Russia’s indigenous peoples.”
We are now at a turning point. The rate at which Russia is depleting its current oil and natural gas fields means that it will soon have no choice but to pivot north. The riches of the Arctic hold the promise of Russia’s economic salvation. As Russia explores these new resources, it has a responsibility to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its Indigenous peoples. Unfortunately, however, Russia has consistently neglected these communities’ needs, placing profit above their well-being.
With Russia’s Arctic Council chairmanship quickly approaching, it is important that the other member states hold Russia accountable for its treatment of its Indigenous population. Unless RAIPON is reformed (with genuine representatives of the Indigenous community) or replaced altogether, Russia’s Indigenous peoples will continue to be exploited. With no Indigenous voices present, it is impossible for the international community to comprehend the scope of the damage caused by unchecked oil and gas activity. It is one thing to read statistics presented by the Russian government, but entirely more powerful to hear a firsthand account of how these industries are destroying resources vital to the livelihoods of Indigenous populations and forcing thousands from their ancestral homelands. The other member states of the Council must take action, or they will doom these communities to a future devoid of traditional practices, tribal languages, and even their cultures.
Amelia Fay is a rising junior at Columbia College majoring in Comparative Literature & Society. She is from New York City and thinks Tal Bagels is the best on the Upper West Side.
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