{"id":11012,"date":"2024-03-27T10:00:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/27\/worries-over-ethnic-tensions-have-kremlin-treading-carefully-on-massacre\/"},"modified":"2024-03-27T10:00:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T10:00:19","slug":"worries-over-ethnic-tensions-have-kremlin-treading-carefully-on-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/27\/worries-over-ethnic-tensions-have-kremlin-treading-carefully-on-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Worries Over Ethnic Tensions Have Kremlin Treading Carefully on Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/27\/multimedia\/27russia-ethnic-tensions-ktcw\/27russia-ethnic-tensions-ktcw-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Worries Over Ethnic Tensions Have Kremlin Treading Carefully on Massacre\" title=\"Worries Over Ethnic Tensions Have Kremlin Treading Carefully on Massacre\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At a memorial service this week outside the concert hall where Islamist extremists are suspected of carrying out <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/22\/world\/europe\/moscow-shooting.html\" title=\"\">a deadly terrorist attack<\/a>, one of Russia\u2019s most popular pro-Kremlin rappers warned \u201cright-wing and far-right groups\u201d that they must not \u201cincite ethnic hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At a televised meeting about the attack, Russia\u2019s top prosecutor, Igor Krasnov, pledged that his service was paying \u201cspecial attention\u201d to preventing \u201cinterethnic and interfaith conflicts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And when President Vladimir V. Putin made his first comments on the tragedy last weekend, he said he would not allow anyone to \u201csow the poisonous seeds of hatred, panic and discord in our multiethnic society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the wake of the assault near Moscow that killed 139 people last Friday, there has been a recurring theme in the Kremlin\u2019s response: a fear that the tragedy could spur ethnic strife inside Russia. While Mr. Putin and his security chiefs are accusing Ukraine \u2014 without evidence \u2014 of having helped organize the killing, the fact that the four detained suspects in the attack are from the predominantly Muslim Central Asian country of Tajikistan is stoking anti-migrant rhetoric online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Mr. Putin, the problem is magnified by the competing priorities of his war in Ukraine. Members of Muslim minority groups make up a significant share of the Russian soldiers fighting and dying. Migrants from Central Asia are providing much of the labor that keeps Russia\u2019s economy running and its military supply chain humming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But many of the most fervent supporters of Mr. Putin\u2019s invasion are Russian nationalists whose popular, pro-war blogs on the Telegram messaging app have brimmed with xenophobia in the days since the attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe borders have to be shut down as much as possible, if not closed,\u201d said one. \u201cThe situation now has shown that Russian society is on the brink.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a result, the Kremlin is walking a fine line, trying to keep war supporters happy by promising tougher action against migrants while trying to prevent tensions from flaring across society. The potential for violence was highlighted in October, when an antisemitic mob <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/02\/world\/europe\/mob-riot-dagestan-airport-telegram.html\" title=\"\">stormed an airport in the predominantly Muslim Russian region of Dagestan<\/a> to confront a passenger plane arriving from Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe authorities see this as a very big, serious threat,\u201d Sergey Markov, a pro-Putin political analyst in Moscow and a former Kremlin adviser, said in a phone interview. \u201cThat\u2019s why all efforts are being made now to calm down public opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Caught in the middle are millions of migrant workers and ethnic-minority Russians who are already facing an increase on city streets in the kind of racial profiling that was commonplace even before the attack. Svetlana Gannushkina, a longtime Russian human rights defender, said on Tuesday that she was scrambling to try to help a Tajik man who had just been detained because the police \u201care looking for Tajiks\u201d and \u201csaw a person with such an appearance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey need migrants as cannon fodder\u201d for the Russian Army \u201cand as labor,\u201d Ms. Gannushkina said in a phone interview from Moscow. \u201cAnd when they need to fulfill the plan on fighting terrorism, they\u2019ll also focus on this group\u201d of Tajiks, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nearly a million citizens of Tajikistan, which has a population of about 10 million, were registered in Russia as migrant workers last year, according to government statistics. They are among the millions of migrant laborers in Russia from across the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, a driving force in Russia\u2019s economy, from food delivery and construction to factory work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A manager of a food business in Moscow that employs Tajiks said in an interview that the mood in the Russian capital reminded her of the 2000s, when Muslims from the Caucasus region faced widespread discrimination in the wake of terrorist attacks and the wars in Chechnya. Tajiks in Moscow are so apprehensive they are hardly going outside at all, she said, requesting anonymity because she feared repercussions for speaking to a Western journalist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s already no supply of labor because of the S.V.O.,\u201d she added, using the common Russian abbreviation for the Kremlin\u2019s \u201cspecial military operation\u201d against Ukraine. \u201cAnd now it\u2019ll be even worse.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ethnic tensions have been an enduring challenge for Mr. Putin during his almost quarter-century rule, but he has also tried to use them to his geopolitical advantage. Mr. Putin\u2019s rise to power was shaped by war in the southern, predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya, where Russia sought to brutally extinguish separatist and extremist movements. He has also helped foment separatism in places like the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, taking sides in long-simmering conflicts there to expand Russia\u2019s influence. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin\u2019s government is already trying to show the public that it stands ready to take action against migrants. A top lawmaker <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/russian.rt.com\/russia\/news\/1291662-mironov-oruzhie-migranty\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">proposed<\/a> on Tuesday that firearms sales be banned to newly naturalized Russian citizens. Mr. Krasnov, the top prosecutor, said that the number of crimes carried out by migrants rose by 75 percent in 2023, without providing specific details. \u201cWe need to develop balanced solutions based on the need to ensure the safety of citizens and the economic expediency of using foreign labor,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Far from trying to keep foreigners out, Russia has made it easier for migrants to become Russian citizens since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A primary reason appears to be the military\u2019s need for soldiers in Ukraine, and police raids targeting migrant workers to compel them to register for military service have become commonplace in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/lenta.ru\/news\/2023\/12\/11\/vystroili-v-tsepochku-i-uvezli-vooruzhennye-siloviki-ustroili-oblavu-na-migrantov-v-rossiyskom-torgovom-tsentre\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Russian news reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a result, Tajik migrants in Moscow now fear not only deportation, but also the possibility that they could be pressed into service in Ukraine, said Saidanvar, 25, a Tajik human rights activist who recently left Moscow. He asked that his last name not be used for security reasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTajiks are really afraid,\u201d he said in an interview, \u201cthat the Russian authorities will start sending Tajiks to the front en masse to fight as a sort of revenge against our Tajik people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his speeches on the war, Mr. Putin has paid frequent lip service to Russia as a multiethnic state \u2014 a legacy of the Russian and Soviet empires. In March 2022, after describing the heroism of a soldier from Dagestan, Mr. Putin enumerated some of Russia\u2019s ethnic groups by saying: \u201cI am a Lak, I am a Dagestani, I am a Chechen, an Ingush, a Russian, a Tatar, a Jew, a Mordvin, an Ossetian.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his rhetoric about his conflict with the West, Mr. Putin has frequently accused Russia\u2019s adversaries of trying to stir up ethnic strife in Russia. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/10\/30\/world\/europe\/dagestan-airport-mob-russia-israel-plane.html\" title=\"\">That was his response<\/a> to the Dagestan airport riot in October, which he baselessly blamed on Western intelligence agencies and Ukraine. That is also increasingly at the center of his response to Friday\u2019s terrorist attack, which the Islamic State claimed responsibility for and American officials say was carried out by a branch of the extremist group. On Tuesday, the head of Russia\u2019s domestic intelligence agency claimed that Ukrainian, British and American spies might have been behind it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The upshot appears to be that the Kremlin is seeking to refocus anger over the attack toward Ukraine while trying to show the public that it is taking concerns about migration into account.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey\u2019re going to grab the Tajiks and blame the Ukrainians,\u201d Ms. Gannushkina, the human rights defender, said. \u201cIt was clear from the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, Mr. Markov, the pro-Kremlin analyst, said he saw tensions over migration policy even inside Mr. Putin\u2019s powerful security establishment. Anti-immigrant law enforcement and intelligence officials, he said, were at odds with a military-industrial complex that needs migrant labor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a contradiction,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this terror attack has sharply aggravated this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a memorial service this week outside the concert hall where Islamist extremists are suspected of carrying out a deadly terrorist attack, one of Russia\u2019s most popular pro-Kremlin rappers warned \u201cright-wing and far-right groups\u201d that they must not \u201cincite ethnic hatred.\u201d At a televised meeting about the attack, Russia\u2019s top prosecutor, Igor Krasnov, pledged that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/27\/multimedia\/27russia-ethnic-tensions-ktcw\/27russia-ethnic-tensions-ktcw-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16167,16165,14714,5553,571,16166,11040],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11012"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11014,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11012\/revisions\/11014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}