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In a recent interview, the Pope mentioned Chechens and Buryats as “cruelest” perpetrators of the war in Ukraine. “When I speak about Ukraine, I speak about the cruelty because I have much information about the cruelty of the troops that come in. Generally, the cruelest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryati and so on,” the Pope shared in an interview with America The Jesuit Review magazine published on November 28, 2022. CNN reported on the Pope’s remarks on November 29, but mainstream media in Europe and the U.S. has previously amplified this misinformation, which is steeped in racism. On August 9, 2022, coincidentally International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, journalist and author of "Killer in the Kremlin" John Sweeney in an interview with CNN stated, “On the outskirts of Bucha…the Russian soldiers we saw weren’t ethic Russians, they were Buryats, Mongols…” implying Buryats and Mongols were solely responsible for the atrocities. Enough is enough!
Cultural Survival denounces this racist and hateful rhetoric and calls the world’s attention to the fact that these narratives are created and promoted by the Russian State. Minority and Indigenous Russians face stereotypes, discrimination, and marginalization within Russia, and Russian propaganda has deliberately used them as faces of the war in order to distance violence and injustice from a broader ethnic Russian public. The Pope’s repetition of Russian propaganda is an ill-informed and dangerous accusation that perpetuates harmful, racist myths that stem from Russia’s long and violent colonial history. These accusations by the Pope are forms of double colonialism, genocide, and a horrific history set to repeat.
The Russian Federation is home to millions of people of diverse ethnicities, including Indigenous populations spread across roughly two-thirds of Russian territory and representing 2% of that region’s population. There are 46 Peoples recognized as Indigenous under Russian law and defined as “Indigenous small-numbered Peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East.” Within the Federation, to be recognized as “Indigenous”, a group must fit distinct qualities, including numbering under 50,000 individuals, practicing traditional customs, inhabiting a remote area, and maintaining a distinct ethnic identity. This State-imposed definition prevents approximately 140 Indigenous Peoples, including for example, Buryats, Altaians, Sakha, and Peoples of southwestern Russia, from claiming Indigenous rights through official recognition by Russia.
Many see Putin’s recent mobilization as an “ethnic cleansing of Indigenous Peoples” as it has disproportionately affected ethnic and Indigenous people in Russia.
Alexandra Garmazhapova, the founder of the anti-war Free Buryatia Foundation told The Guardian, “Russia is waging an imperial war started and led by Vladimir Putin, who is by all accounts not a member of an ethnic minority. The pope should condemn him personally, but he decided to sidestep the Russian president.”
We demand the Pope apologize to Chechens and Buryats for perpetuating racist stereotypes. Whole Peoples should not be vilified and blamed for the actions of the Russian State. Mainstream media needs to be sensitive to perpetuating stereotypes and call them out.
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