last updated January 6, 2005

Russia is home to hundreds of ethnic and religious minorities.  While ethnic Slavs comprise most of the population, Tatars, Kazaks, Bashkirs, and Chuvash Bolgars each number over one million. There are also several hundred smaller ethnic and indigenous groups in Russia. In fact, Russian regions are historically based on ethnic patterns. Today, twenty one republics and ten okrugs (districts) are classified as an “ethnic homeland” to minorities, although Slavs, however, now outnumber ethnic minorities in most regions. 

The policy of Korenizatsiya, or providing employment and political benefits to ethnic minorities, was prevalent throughout most of the Soviet Era. Today, the federal government guarantees equality rather than granting concessions to ethnic minorities. However, ethnic minorities still retain some positions of power in local governments. As part of his larger efforts to funnel power into a vertical, federal structure, President Putin has opposed special privileges for ethnic minorities and ethnic regions. Putin has realigned all of Russia into seven federal districts with presidential representatives, restructured taxes, and added new restrictions for governors—all actions that inhibit regional autonomy in favor of greater federal control. (Marsh and Warhola)

Minority legislation

The Russian Constitution guarantees basic human rights to ethnic minority groups. Article 19 guarantees equality to all Russian citizens, regardless of ethnic origin. Article 68(3) protects the right to use languages other than Russian: “The Russian Federation guarantees all its peoples the right to retain their mother tongue, and to create conditions for its study and development.” Article 72(l) guarantees a small degree of greater autonomy to ethnic regions for “the protection of the primordial habitat and traditional way of life of numerically small ethnic communities.” Other Constitutional protections for ethnic minorities are specified in Articles 5, 13, 26, 29, 69, and 71.

Russia has several domestic laws and decrees and is party to international laws that guarantee racial equality. The 1996 Federal Law on National-Cultural Autonomy “determines legal grounds of the national-cultural autonomy in the Russian Federation, establishes juridical conditions for the interaction between the State and the society for the defense of national interests of citizens of the Russian Federation in the process of choice of the ways and forms of their national-cultural development.” The International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination prevents racial discrimination. However, these laws are not consistently enforced, and discrimination is widespread throughout Russia. For example, Amnesty International reports that Russian authorities target visible minorities for racial profiling, resulting in unnecessary registration and passport checks, searches, and even arbitrary arrest. Russian skinhead gangs often target minorities without receiving adequate punishment, as well. For example, in August 2001, a group of Russian skinheads attacked and seriously injured six African refugees in Moscow, killing one refugee. The Russian attackers were labeled “hooligans,” and their charges were ultimately dropped. The Open Society Russia Anti-Discrimination Project reports that few discrimination cases are prosecuted in Russia because there is no comprehensive network of anti-discrimination laws, and lawyers and judges are not trained in litigating human rights issues within Russia. As a result, most Russian ethnic discrimination cases are increasingly petitioned to the European Court of Human Rights, which specializes in such cases.

Situation of minority and indigenous population 

Discrimination against ethnic minorities has been most acute after terror attacks in Russian cities. For example, immediately following the 6 February 2004 Moscow subway bombing, the media were filled with popular demands to forbid any Caucasians from entering Moscow, while Moscow’s mayor Luzhkov promised to clamp down on illegal migrants in Moscow, and President Putin announced that Chechen separatists were to blame for the attacks, all before learning the source of the attacks. (Amnesty International News)

The most controversial minority groups in Russia are not necessarily the most populous. Indigenous peoples, who number only approximately 200,000, experience disproportionate poverty and inadequate access to resources, despite current legal protections. In their presentation for the UNHCR Expert Seminar on Indigenous Peoples and the Administration of Justice, Ekaterina Khmeleva and Mikhail Todyshev note the disparity between guaranteed legal protections and discriminatory implementation of Russian indigenous rights legislation.  Article 69

of the Russian Constitution, “guarantees the rights of numerically small indigenous peoples in accordance with the generally recognized principles and norms of international law and the international treaties of the Russian Federation.” Additionally, three federal laws guarantee indigenous rights: The Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation (Guarantees of Rights) Act of 30 April 1999; The Communities of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Russian Far East (General Principles of Organization) Act of 20 July 2000; and The Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Russian Far East (Areas Traditionally Exploited) Act of 11 May 2001.

The most prominent controversy with indigenous people concerns land rights. Indigenous groups are guaranteed land rights for traditional uses and subsistence, but when they attempt to exercise their rights under existing legislation, government officials either ignore or reject their requests, instead granting land for corporate or governmental use to extract oil, timber, and other natural resources. Another example of alleged governmental discrimination occurs when the government denies compensation for indigenous land damaged by federal or corporate use. Several of these complaints have reached the level of the European Court of Human Rights. In 2003, The U.N. Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights  addressed the Russian government’s failure to implement legislation guaranteeing indigenous land use rights. (RAIPON)

Chechens are the most widely targeted minority group in Russia. Russian policies toward Chechens are colored by the ongoing civil war between Russia and the Chechen Republic. Chechnya declared independence from Russia in 1991, along with several other Union Republics that were granted independence. But Russia wanted to retain control over Chechnya because of concerns about oil pipelines and Chechen governmental corruption. Chechen separatist fighters have resisted the presence of Russian troops since 1992. There have been two official wars in Chechnya. The first war lasted from 1994-1995, and the most recent war started in 1999 has yet to be resolved. (Miller)

Although large-scale fighting has ended, protracted fighting and human rights violations continue in Chechnya, with few consequences for Russian troops who violate international human rights standards. Human Rights Watch notes that some of the most common human rights violations against Chechens are: extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture, rape, and looting. Additionally, Russian troops encourage and sometimes force displaced Chechens (numbering around 100,000) living in shelters in nearby Ingushetia to return to Chechnya, the zone of war. RFE/RL reports that, between 2000 and 2003, the Chechen Office of the Kremlin’s special envoy received over 10,000 complaints of human rights abuses.

The human rights of Chechen women are consistently violated by Russian troops, yet much of this abuse is underreported. Even so, several women have reported incidences of humiliation, abuse, and rape in rural areas, detention centers, and the many military checkpoints situated throughout Chechnya. In fact, a Human Rights Watch report claims that fear of rape by Russian soldiers is so pervasive that families often hide young women or even flee regions where Russian soldiers are present. (International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights)

Even though the human rights violations in Chechnya are widely observed and condemned by the international community, several barriers prevent Chechens from receiving assistance. The high degree of danger in conflict zones prevents many international organizations from maintaining operations in Chechnya. This danger, compounded with the high degree of poverty and a lack of infrastructure prevents many domestic nonprofits from emerging or sustaining operations. Additionally, Russia has rejected UN resolutions calling for investigations into civilian abuses, and Russian forces make it difficult for human rights monitors and missions to operate on the ground in Chechnya. (HRW and RFE/RL)

Apart from Chechens, other Muslim groups experience discrimination in Russia. Dmitri Glinski argues that the post-Soviet period is especially difficult for Muslims because Russia’s pro-Western, pro-Christian reform leaves little room for Islam, which is viewed by reformers as an indication of Russia’s backwardness. This is evidenced by governmental pro-Orthodox religious preferences through the use of official religious categories, and the Kremlin’s Slavic-Orthodox sympathy during the Bosnian War. Since 1992, only three out of 154 government ministers have been Muslim.  Since the elimination of Soviet quotas, which guaranteed a culturally diverse presence in government, the number of Muslim Duma members has dropped to thirty three. Discriminatory practices against Muslims are not limited to government policies. Russian fear of Islam is exacerbated by a fear of a declining ethnically Russian birthrate and an increasing Muslim birth rate. Most Russians group all Muslims into a group called, “cheornie,” or “blacks.” Muslims complain of everyday discrimination in Russia in the workplace, the marketplace, and the media. As with other minority groups, authorities often turn a blind eye.

The situation for Muslims has worsened in the last several years. Immediately following  11 September 2001, President Putin linked the New York attacks with Chechen and Dagestani bombings in Moscow, using the American attacks as a reason to clamp down on Muslims in Russia. A regional head of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims explained, “Attacks in the US were immediately echoed in Russia by personal and apartment searches, raids on cultural and publishing centers. . . . We are always under suspicion." (Glinsky).

Russia is home to the world’s fourth largest Jewish population. Russian Jews experienced more widespread anti-Semitism during the Soviet Era. As a result, many Jews emigrated from Russia to Israel in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, many émigrés have returned to Russia for better opportunities. Putin has spoken out against anti-Semitism, and he occasionally makes appearances at Jewish community events. However, incidents of discrimination are still common. As with other minority groups, local law enforcement are slow to prosecute offenders effectively. Jewish groups such as the United Council of Jews in the Former Soviet Union and the National Council of Soviet Jewry are concerned about threats and attacks against Jewish community leaders, skinhead attacks, and vandalism of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries.

Compiled From

Crisis in Chechnya. RFE/RL.

Ethnic Minorities under Attack, Amnesty International.

Ethnic and Religious Minorities and Their Search for Justice: The Case of Chechnya. Justin Miller. In Marsh, Christopher and Nikolas K. Gvosdev, eds., Civil Society and the Search for Justice in Russia. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 139-156, 2002.

Ethnicity, Ethnoregionalim, and the Political Geography of Putin’s Electoral Support. Marsh and Warhola, Post-Soviet Geography & Economics. 42: 4. 220-233. 2001

Indigenous Peoples and the Justice System in Russia. Ekaterina Khmeleva and Mikhail Todyshev, Expert Seminar on Indigenous Peoples and the Administration of Justice, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 14 November 2003.

Indigenous Peoples of Russia, Thomas Kohler, 2003.

Into Harm’s Way: Forced Return of Displaced Persons into Chechnya, Human Rights Watch.

Russia Anti-Discrimination Project, Open Society Justice Initiative, 14 January 2004.

Russia and Its Muslims: The Politics of Identity at the International-Domestic Frontier,  Dmitri Glinski. East European Constitutional Review, 11:1-2. 2002.

Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, 14 November 2002.

Russian Federation: Out of control: Anti-Chechen sentiment in Moscow post-metro blast, Amnesty International, 18 February 2004.   

Serious Violations of Women’s Human Rights in Chechnya. Human Rights Watch. January 2002.

US State Department, Russia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2003.

US State Department, International Religious Freedom Report, Russia. 2003.

Women 2000: an Investigation into the Status of Women’s Rights in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the NIS, International Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, 2000.