Russia’s War Is Also Against Itself: Ethnic Mobilization and Imperial Logic
In a recent article for The Gaze, political analyst and United Ukraine Think Tank expert Petro Oleshchuk argues that Russia’s military mobilization policies reveal the deeply colonial nature of the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine—and, increasingly, against the ethnic minorities within its own borders.
“The mobilization policy of the Russian Federation in the war against Ukraine is taking on the features of classical imperialism, in which ethnic minorities are the main target,” Oleshchuk writes. His analysis comes amid growing evidence that disproportionate numbers of soldiers conscripted from Russia’s national republics—such as Buryatia, Dagestan, Tuva, and Chechnya—are dying on the frontlines.
Oleshchuk criticizes even members of the Russian opposition for echoing colonial narratives. “This is not just an incorrect phrase; it is a symptom that part of the Russian opposition also thinks in terms of imperial superiority,” he writes, referring to a controversial statement by Vladimir Kara-Murza, who claimed, “Russian soldiers are hardly involved in the war; it’s Buryats, Chechens, and Dagestanis who are dying.”
According to Oleshchuk, such rhetoric dehumanizes ethnic minorities and reinforces the idea that “real Russians” deserve protection while others are expendable. This view aligns with Kremlin strategies that use economic hardship, propaganda, and geographic isolation to drive minority enlistment—turning war into a tool for demographic and political suppression.
Oleshchuk points to ongoing resistance from within these communities. A statement from the Chechen National Liberation Movement, for example, asserts that “participation in the war against Ukraine is not a choice of the Chechen people – it is an act of coercion aimed at demographic weakening and repression.”
Framing the issue as a form of internal imperial aggression, Oleshchuk concludes: “Russia’s mobilization policy is not merely military, but deeply colonial in its essence, approximating ‘ethnic cleansing’ in its very nature.”
Read the full article by Petro Oleshchuk on The Gaze: Mobilization in Russia as a Manifestation of Imperial Policy