Chapter 6: The Impact (or Not) of the War in Ukraine on Russian Minorities and Minorities Policy

Abstract In this article I show how the Russian Federation (Russia) seeks to sustain an impression of business as usual in its minorities policy and administration, while normalising as far as possible the results of its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. I start with the controversial All-Russian Census, 2020–2021, conducted from October to December 2021, and the disputes concerning its results. Second, I turn to the Fifth Report submitted by Russia to the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) on 13 April 2021. Third, I pay close attention to the activities of the Federal Agency for Affairs of Nationalities (ethnic minorities), FADN, and its Director Igor Barinov, which have continued their programme of work. Fourth, Putin’s war on Ukraine has impacted directly on Russia’s ethnic minorities, which have supplied the great majority of young soldiers.