Thread by @MuKappa

Skull collection - an undying barbaric russian tradition

The russians have been taking skulls of those they try to subjugate for centuries to signal their dominance in the most primal manner. This barbaric custom persists to this day in their warfare and foreign relations. 1/

The thread will cover just the most notorious examples. The most prominent one is the story of Kenesary Kassym-uly, the last Kazakh khan (king).
Kenesary khan headed the Kazakh nation in the fight against the russians in 1837-1847. 2/

In 1841 Kenesary was elected and crowned at the Kurultai (Council) of the Bai's (Lords).
N.B.: the Kazakh Khanate was established before the russian tsardom (1456 vs. 1547). 3/

However, this story is not about Kenesary's life and his fight against the russian empire. In 1847 he was betrayed and executed. His head was severed and sent to the russian tsar in st. petersburg. It remains in russia to this day. Not in a grave but in some storage facility. 4/

The 1950 decree "On the distribution of museum collections and exhibits of the USSR reserved in the time of war [WW2]" is in the archives of russia's historical museum. Item 194 of the document: Head of the Kazakh Khan Kenesary Kassymov, store 1847, lab exhibit, SMF KNIO USSR. 5/

Kenesary's severed head was likely first delivered to the russian governor-general of Western Siberia, prince Gorchakov, and later sent to st. petersburg.
Kazakhstan attempted to return the head in 1978, 1982, 1985, 1989 and continuously since 1991 after the fall of the USSR. 6/

In the 1990s primarily Kazakh activists attempted to return Kenesary's head back to Kazakhstan for internment. In the 21st century, the matter has been attempted at the state level through diplomacy. 7/

Given that the head was first sent to Gorchakov and the russian imperial bureaucracy and primacy of the tsar, Kenesary's head was sent to st. petersburg, where in all likelihood it ended up either in the Hermitage or Kunstkamera. 8/
rus.azattyq.org/a/Head_of_Kene…

In 2013, an alleged photo of Kenesary's skull in the Kuntskamera emerged on social media. The nameplate in the photo states: "Kenesary Khan, the last bandit of the Kyrgyz steppe, 1837-1847." russian imperial chauvinism labeled Kazakhs Kyrgyz. 9/
tengrinews.kz/story/v-set-vy…

However, all Kazakh requests sent to the Hermitage or Kunstkamera were denied, citing that the skull was never there in the first place. In 2016 Kazakh diplomatic efforts ramped up. The Kazakh Ministry of Culture joined the MFA in their inquiries. 10/ inform.kz/ru/minkul-tury…

As the matter became an issue of diplomacy the ru media started pushing back and gloatingly responded with unveiled schadenfreude. For instance, Regnum, a major ru propaganda outlet, published an article titled "Dead Khan's head won't help Kazakhstan." 11/
regnum.ru/news/polit/217…

In 2016 the then-Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Masimov reached out to his russian counterpart at the time, medvedev, with an appeal to locate Kenesary's remains in russia. Kenesary is not only significant as the last Kazakh Khan but also as a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. 12/

In August of 2021, Kenesary's skull was finally located. It was found in an Omsk museum. The accompanying documentation to the "exhibit item" confirms its origins. putin promised the Kazakh ex-president Nazarbayev that the skull would be returned. 13/
tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_new…

However, even then there were doubts. In September 2021, Dos Koshim, a Kazakh political scientist, expressed concerns that the russians would likely either break their promise or send a fake. First, Koshim personally saw the skull in the Hermitage storage in 1980. 14/

The russians consistently lied about it. Second, Kenesary's skull is used by the russians as a psychological tool to pressure the Kazakhs in foreign relations, knowing full well the sanctity of ancestors in the old Turkic tradition. 15/
rus.azattyq-ruhy.kz/analytics/2284…

Koshim was right. As of October 2022, Kenesary's skull is still in russia. In October 2021, Kazakhstan attempted to trade the other remaining functional copy of the soviet space shuttle, "Buran #2," for the khan's skull. The negotiations were unsuccessful. 16/

Moskovskiy Komsomolets, one of the oldest russian newspapers, published a piece on the negotiations and the proposed exchange. If you understand russian have a read. It is full of russian chauvinism and imperial arrogance. 17/ mk.ru/social/2021/09…

The other prominent story is that of Kejki Kokembai-uly. He was one of the commanders in the Kazakh national liberation movement of 1916-1923. In 1923 he was killed by a red punitive expedition under the command of Zhelyev, a russian communist. 18/
e-history.kz/ru/news/show/3…

Kejki was beheaded and his skull was later sent to st. petersburg. Duman Ramazan, a Kazakh ethnographer, found archival evidence of the russian possession of Kejki's skull in the early 2000s while looking for Kenesary khan. The archive record is chilling: "Item 3383... 19/

"... Skull of a famous Kazakh bandit Kejki, born in Kaidaul volost, Turgai uezd, executed in the Soviet period. A gift from D.D. Bukinich in 1926..."
In 2016, russia returned Kejki's skull to Kazakhstan. DNA analysis and facial reconstruction confirmed his identity. 20/

Contemporary russia is hardly any different from imperial and soviet russia. To this day there are numerous examples of russian war crimes where beheadings are not uncommon from the War in Donbas in 2014/15, Syria, and the current full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 21/

Perhaps, the worst recent incident is that of an anonymous Ukrainian defender of Mariupol. Igor Mangushev, a russian propagandist, posed in front of a crowd with a Ukrainian skull in his hand while calling for the destruction of the Ukrainian nation. 22/ t.me/informnapalm/1…

Given this persistent russian behavior through the centuries, where skull collection is used as a tool in warfare and diplomacy for humiliation and intimidation, it is difficult to expect the russians to change any time soon. 23/23