Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Systemic discrimination against people from Russia's regions – affecting not just ethnic minorities, but ethnic Russians as well – is to blame for the disproportionate numbers of war casualties among the country's minority groups, according to the author of a study. ⬇️

2/ Maria Vyushkova, the co-author (with Yevgeny Sherkhonov) of a study on Russian ethnic minority casualty rates in the Ukraine war, has explained their findings in an interview with Azatliq, Radio Liberty's Tatar service.
brill.com/view/journals/…

3/ Vyushkova and Sherkhonov were able to confirm widespread reports that ethnic minorities have experienced a disproportionate percentage of casualties compared with the percentage of their population in Russia.

4/ For example, Cossacks comprise only 17.6% of the Astrakhan region's population, but comprise around 50% of the region's war dead. They account for around 3.1-4.0% of all those killed fighting in Ukraine, but are only 0.47% of Russia's population.

5/ A similar situation affects Buryats living in the Trans-Baikal Krai: they comprise only 6% of the regional population, but account for 25% of deaths from this region. Overall, ethnic Russians account for 80.85% of the country's population but only 70% of the war dead.

6/ However, the reasons for such disproportionate losses are more complex than simply overt discrimination. Vyushkova attributes it to "systemic discrimination", whereby people from such regions face a lack of economic opportunities and social mobility.

7/ Notably, Vyushkova attributes this to regional discrimination, not just ethnic discrimination, though she says that is certainly a factor too: "Russians living in the ethnic region are also looked down upon just because they are from the ethnic region.

8/ For example, Russians born in the North Caucasus republics also say this, they say that [other Russians] look down on them."

9/ They therefore have few options other than a military career, causing those from poor regions to be over-represented in the army. Buryats comprised around 40% of the members of the 5th Tank Army, which was devastated in the battles around Kyiv in early 2022.

10/ Mobilisation has changed the demographics of Russian casualties substantially. Vyushkova says that since 2022, "the majority of the dead moved from the east of Russia to the west. Especially to the Volga and Ural regions. Now the Volga region has the highest number of deaths.

11/ "Among the regions, Bashkortostan is severely affected."

In addition to Bashkortostan, the republics of Buryatia, Tuva and Sakha have also had severe casualties among the mobilised.

12/ As Vyushkova notes, this reflects a greater focus on recruitment in the regions, and especially in rural areas, than in the urban Russian heartland.

13/ In Buryatia in particular, large numbers of people were taken from villages across the region. This is likely to have a long-lasting demographic impact: 1 in every 18 mobilised people killed in the war is a Buryat. /end

Source:
azatliq.org/a/32576626.html