Vladislav Yapuntai was killed in Ukraine
A legion of young men from indigenous Nenets villages are perishing in the war. 26-year-old Vladislav Yapuntai is one of at least 17 members of the Yapuntai family that have been killed on the battlefield.
The young man from the village of Antipayuta had signed up for war and was killed.
Vladislav Yapuntai was laid to rest on September 22. The funeral took place in the local Center of National Culture and was conducted in accordance with national traditions, a social media post reads.
Vladislav Yapuntai is one of several hundred men from small indigenous communities in the Yamal-Nenets region that have been killed in Russia's war of aggression.
Paradoxically, representatives of the indigenous peoples of the north, themselves victims of Moscow's repressive imperialism, are active participants in Putin's expansionist war of aggression.
Judging from a database with information about Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, Vladislav Yapuntai is one of at least 17 men of the Yapuntai family that have perished in the war.
Yapuntai is a common surname in the Nenets region.
Other common Nenets surnames are Salinder and Khudi. The database includes information about at least 35 men of the Salinder family and 22 men of the Khudi family.
Many of them came from reindeer-herding families. Many of them would have carried on local traditions and reindeer husbandry in their villages.
Among the villages that have lost most men is Gyda, a settlement located in the northernmost part of the Gydan Peninsula. At least 34 men from Gyda have been confirmed killed.
The village has a population of about 3,500 people and is headed by Oleg Shabalin, an ethnic Russian and loyal servant of Vladimir Putin.
In many social media posts, Mayor Shabalin promotes the Kremlin's narratives. As soon as Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, Shabalin started to post pro-war propaganda materials on his VK page.
Among the towns and villages with a high death toll is Tazovsky. The town is located on the coast of the Ob Bay and has a population of about 8,400.
This is where municipal Mayor Viktor Yugai is based. Also Yugai is a civil servant loyal to Putin and a supporter of the war of aggression.
Since the full-scale onslaught started in February 2022, at least 56 local men from Tazovsky have been reported killed in Ukraine. Almost all of them were ethnic Nenets.
"We honour our heroes – our fellow countrymen who are currently on the front line, continuing to defend the interests of our country. We remember those who are no longer with us, but whose deeds will remain in our hearts," Yugai declared during a recent event.
Men from ethnic minorities living far from Moscow make up a significant share of the troops that are fighting and dying on occupied Ukrainian land.
Recruitment is actively supported by local and regional authorities. In the municipality of Yar-Sale, a Nenets town located on the shores of the Ob Bay, the town administration frequently posts pro-war materials and recruitment ads on its social media.
According to Andrei Danilov, a Sámi man from the Kola Peninsula, the high number of indigenous men fighting in Ukraine is related to local social and economic problems.
“Many indigenous groups are poor and troubled by economic depression, and federal authorities have never made any major effort to improve their position,” he told the Barents Observer.
According to Danilov, indigenous communities are vulnerable and the loss of young local men can have big consequences for the group.
