Indigenous organizations are now classified as extremist in Russia and labeled in the same way as, among others, al-Qaeda and armed Nazi movements.
The decision, which SVT Sápmi reported on earlier, has received strong international criticism and more than 120 organizations have signed a statement to the UN Secretary General about the situation of indigenous peoples in the country.
“Want to remove anything that could be a threat”
SVT’s foreign reporter and former Russia correspondent Bert Sundström is not surprised by the decision.
– Russia is doing this because the Kremlin wants to emphasize even more strongly that no dissenting opinions can be tolerated. It’s about making sure that Russia is united in times of war, even if these organizations are not actually separatists and are doing something subversive, the Kremlin wants to mark, he says.
Russia has previously made similar decisions regarding the LGBTQI movement.
– The Kremlin wants to remove everything that it sees as a threat to Russian unity, whether it concerns people with sexual deviations, as Russia calls them, or people who speak other languages, says Bert Sundström.
“Increasingly totalitarian society”
According to Alexandr Slupachik, Sami activist from the Kola Peninsula and now an asylum seeker in Norway, the decision means great dangers for the indigenous people in the country and that many may be forced to flee.
Sundström tells more about what the decision can lead to in the country.
– This is a step on the way to an increasingly totalitarian society. Despite the fact that these various indigenous groups, which do not make up more than a few percent of the country’s population, and which do not pose any political threat, it feels like Putin is starting to fear everything, says Bert Sundström.