26.03.2026

Militarization and violation of the rights of Indigenous peoples of Russia — how to avoid service in the army

Anti-Discrimination Centre ‘Memorial’ continues its podcast series on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The sixth episode of the podcast is about how the criminal war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine affects the situation of Indigenous peoples living on the territory of the Russian Federation, and in what ways the Russian authorities force representatives of these peoples to take part in military actions. The podcast pays special attention to the possibilities of avoiding service in the army, including in a situation when a person is already at the front.

These issues are discussed by the following speakers :

  • Valentina Bazarova, analyst of the “Free Buryatia” foundation
  • Ruslan Valiev, journalist, publisher of the media outlet “Aspekty”, Bashkortostan
  • Artyom Klyga, head of the legal department of “The Conscientious Objectors Movement”
  • Sergey Krivenko, expert of the human rights group “Citizen. Army. Law”
  • Stefania Kulaeva, expert of ADC “Memorial”, Brussels

Sound design: Ostap Kukhar

The following English version of this podcast was created using AI voice synthesis technology from the original Russian-language episode, with the explicit consent of the speakers.

Listen and subscribe on the platforms:


Important links to support initiatives to avoid service in the russian army:

— The Conscientious Objectors Movement StopArmy
— The anti-war project “Get Lost” (Idite Lesom)


Previous episodes:

The Episode 1 Violations of the environmental rights of the Indigenous peoples of Russia

The Episode 2 Violations of the indigenous peoples’ right to education

The Episode 3 Violations of Indigenous Peoples’ Right to Culture

The Episode 4 Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Their Native Language

The Episode 5 How UN protects the rights of Indigenous Peoples, while advocacy work also brings risks to activist

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