Russia’s Finno-Ugric Peoples Challenge Soviet-Imposed Identities

The Erzya and Moksha, two Finno-Ugric peoples more commonly known collectively, as a result of Soviet-era ethnic engineering, as the Mordvinians, are now seeking the reassert their separate identities, yet another indication, along with the actions of the Circassians, that these nations want to be identified on their own terms.

The Congress of Youth Association of Finno-Ugric peoples was held in Petrozavodsk

The IX Congress of Youth Association of Finno-Ugric peoples took place on August, 14-15 in Petrozavodsk. Action was included in the Plan of the Republic’s Complex Actions on preparation and carrying out of the Second Decade of the World Indigenous People in 2008 – 2009 and the Year of Youth in the Russian Federation.

Tatar Children’s Book on Conquest of Kazan in 1552 Outrages Russian

A Tatar author’s richly illustrated children’s book on Ivan the Terrible’s conquest of Kazan in 1552 that asserts Tatarstan’s “struggle for the restoration of independence continues in our day” has prompted a Russian activist to demand that Moscow intervene to ban the book for “falsifying history to the detriment of Russia.”

On the “Svobodnaya pressa” website at the end of last week, Yan Stashkevich says that “children’s literature in Tatarstan is teaching that the Russian state is a mob of marauders, thieves and usurpers” and that the Tatar’s “struggle for the restoration of independence” has never ended.

The Head of the Republic of Komi had a meeting with Finnish journalists (VIDEO)

The Head of the Republic of Komi Vladimir Torlopov had a meeting with a group of Finnish journalists.

The journalists develop environmental topics. Their trip was organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Republic of Komi at the assistance of Timo Sipola, Barents-Press Association Director.

Russia’s Indigenous Minorities Organize to Resist Moscow’s Policies

Russia’s numerically small indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East are marking the International Day of Indigenous Peoples this weekend with expressions of concern about the ways in which Moscow’s policies threaten their survival and with efforts at creating organizations to resist those policies by attracting support from abroad.

The Congress of the Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples to be held in Petrozavodsk

Within the scope of the Year of Youth in the Russian Federation and the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People on August 14-15 Petrozavodsk will host the IXth Congress of the Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples (MAFUN/YAFUP).

The Association’s primary intent is preservation and development of Finno-Ugric cultures and languages, as well as distribution of information on them.

Mari teenagers studying journalism (VIDEO)

The Mari children’s magazine, Keche (“Sunshine”), is holding a forum for young Mari reporters. The forum has received financial support from the Finnish M. A. Castrén Society:

Source: Mari El TV

Moscow will Destroy Russia by Copying Soviet Nationality Policy, Middle Volga Peoples Say

The draft program for Russia’s future nationality policy prepared by the Moscow Institute of Ethnology calls for “the systematic destruction of the federal and democratic foundations” of the Russian Federation and contains elements from Soviet practice that could lead to “the disintegration of the country,” Middle Volga activists say.

Deadly Ethnic Clash in Closed City Adjoining Russian Missile Test Site

A deadly clash between ethnic Chechens and ethnic Russians in a closed city near a missile test site in Astrakhan oblast on July 19th both has sparked fears among many Russians of a new wave of Kondopoga-type violence across that country and raised questions about security in some of Moscow’s most sensitive military facilities.

And these concerns have been intensified because Russian officials first tried to suppress media coverage,