By Tjan Zaotschnaja

The International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR) has drawn attention to the political persecution of indigenous activists. The authorities accuse them of ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’.

The committee contradicts the state apparatus, saying these accusations are fabricated. With its anti-extremism and anti-terrorism laws, the Russian state is suppressing peaceful human rights work.

On 17 December 2025, Daria Egereva was arrested under these anti-terrorism laws for allegedly maintaining contacts with the Aboriginal Forum and the Centre for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North (CSIPN). Since 2024, the Aboriginal Forum network has been considered an ‘extremist organisation’. This network is unequivocally committed to non-violence.

On 17 December 2025, another activist was arrested in Moscow for alleged terrorist activities.

Following the two arrests, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) took action against other indigenous activists across the country, including in the Altai Republic, the oblasts of Tomsk, Murmansk and Kemerovo, the Altai Krai, Taimyr and Krasnoyarsk Krai, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and Saint Petersburg. These operations targeted members of indigenous communities, including Selkups, Tubalars, Chulyms, Shors, Kumandins, Dolgan, Yukaghirs, Evenks, Sámi and Nganasan.

In Murmansk Oblast, a house search was carried out at the home of Valentina Sovkina, a member of the Sámi Indigenous People and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).

At least 17 indigenous activists were ‘visited’ and interrogated by FSB agents in various regions of the Russian Federation. Their computers were confiscated.

The ICIPR criticises this action by the secret service as politically motivated persecution and a continuation of the systematic criminalisation of peaceful indigenous human rights work. Cooperation with international human rights bodies and participation in the work of the United Nations are also apparently considered extremist terrorism.