Circassian Funerals:
Between Russian Invasion of Circassia and Current Invasion of Ukraine
Adel Bashqawi
April 29, 2024
— It’s disgusting to keep the subjected peoples and nations occupied with imperial adventures waged by the consecutive ruling regimes, at a time the original owners of the soil continue to pay high price through the sweat, blood, and efforts of generations who lived an unbearable life. They did not know what relief or relaxation meant since their homeland was occupied and annexed to a rogue colonial state in 1864.
— The difference though is not surprising when the descendants of the victims of the Russian invasion and the war of annihilation and deportation against Circassia, become victims who are led by the fascist and failed policies to fall in the battlefields of Russia’s current war against the independent state of Ukraine with the intention of occupation and colonial annexation.
— This is not limited to the people of Circassia in the North Caucasus only, but includes other subject peoples and nations of the North Caucasus and beyond, throughout the nominal federation that they were plagued with. Instead of being part of a democratic union, they found themselves trapped in a totalitarian and authoritarian regime, where their lives and destinies were and still controlled by the mood and interest of the central authorities in Moscow.
— The occupation, invasion and annexation of the Circassian homeland by the tsarist Russian Empire, one of the most horrific colonial powers that committed devastating and brutal atrocities. The Russian Empire committed the extermination of half the population and displaced 90% of the rest of the Circassian nation to the Ottoman Empire, later settling in dozens of countries until the present day. While the remaining 10% remained divided and spread out in non-contiguous administrative areas of their original homeland.
— In the absence of a moral deterrent, the number of funerals increased and continued as a result of the involvement of multiple peoples and nations in Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine. The regime has succeeded in promoting and imposing tyranny, wars, and murder, thus increasing the funerals that cross the distance between Ukraine and the North Caucasus. By the way, there are people who cannot find their bodies after they were killed, let alone those captured by Ukrainians during the military operations.
The Occupation of the Crimea Aimed at Invading Ukraine
In this regard, we cannot fail to mention the Russian incentives to begin military penetration into Ukrainian territory to establish a separatist movement as a prelude to the occupation of Ukraine in the foreseeable future. It has proven since 2014 that Russian Special Forces were involved in secret operations of missions to destabilize Eastern Ukraine, at a time, the Russian authorities denied this accusation.
However, Russia was “sending soldiers across the border to reinforce Russian-backed separatist forces in Ukraine. Once in eastern Ukraine, these soldiers are no longer considered Russian; they are told to refer to themselves as local defense forces, aiding the separatists with additional manpower and equipment.”
Live example on Russian early plans to subjugate Ukraine shows that, “Sgt. Leonid Kichatkin of the Russian 76th Airborne Division and Russian soldier Anton Tumanov died in August 2014 while fighting in eastern Ukraine. Their deaths amply demonstrate that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine is false.” [1]
The Funerals are in Constant Flow
No surprise, the leaked information through media outlets and social media, told part of the untold story. The truth showed the increasing number of Circassians and other recruits from other nations of the North Caucasus, who lost their precious lives in Ukraine, for a purely colonial issue, they are not a party to it. Rather they found themselves as scapegoats. In any case, they are used as cannon fodder or expendable material in a raging war. However, the names of the deceased were not officially announced or disclosed at the time they were killed in the war.
“The North Caucasus has had to pay with three generations of young Muslims for the people’s disloyalty to Moscow. Now the sons, nephews, and brothers of those who perished in the mountain forests and Syrian deserts are dying on the steppes and in the cities of Ukraine. They are dying for Putin’s regime, which has been killing and imprisoning their family members and fellow Muslims for decades … communities always try to bury their dead at home. Bodies are brought from all over the world and are buried at a local cemetery, those most recently killed laid to rest next to their grandfathers and great-grandfathers.” [2]
Media Reported Casualties Contradict Official Reports
— The only known and published figures, made publicly and were published by the Russian Ministry of Defense do not reflect the accurate figures. “The number known to the editors of ‘Caucasus.Realities’ of military personnel killed in Ukraine from among the natives or residents of southern Russia and the North Caucasus has reached 7,576 people – excluding about 850 buried in the Wagner PMC cemetery in Kuban.” [3]
— Latest updates reflect the media’s continued publication of more information about those killed in battles on various fronts. On April 23, 2024, it “became known that another 30 military personnel from the regions of southern Russia and the North Caucasus were killed in the war in Ukraine. Among them is a mercenary of the Wagner PMC, recruited in a colony, where he served a five-month sentence, and a “volunteer” who fought for only a little more than two weeks. The dead were eight people from the Rostov region, six from the Stavropol Territory, five each from the Krasnodar Territory and the Volgograd Region, three people from Dagestan, two from Kalmykia and one from Kabardino-Balkaria.” [4]
— The official reports contradict and even attempt to ignore declaring the accurate number of those killed by not considering them members of the army. “* In reports of military deaths, “volunteers” can refer to both fighters from units not included in the structure of the Ministry of Defense, and those who entered into a contract with the Ministry of Defense to participate in the war in Ukraine after the start of a full-scale invasion.” [5]
— Apparently, they were recruited under duress for various illogical reasons. In the same context, in a statement by one of those who are aware of the development of the situation in the North Caucasus, he said: “Unfortunately, due to the deteriorating financial situation, signing a contract is very often the only way to keep your family afloat, and therefore young people often sign up for a contract themselves. This is also due to indoctrination and incompetence. We cannot now openly influence the situation in any way, under the threat of prison.”
— In the same context, on April 26, 2024, it was publicly published “that another 36 military personnel from the regions of southern Russia and the North Caucasus were killed in the war in Ukraine. These are 11 people from the Krasnodar Territory, eight from Kabardino-Balkaria, five from Dagestan, three each from North Ossetia, Volgograd and Astrakhan regions, two people from the Stavropol Territory and one from the Rostov region.” [6] Knowing that the real losses of pro-Russian Kadyrov’s Chechen fighters have not been disclosed.
— This information is not final because final figures are not available or published when loss of life and injury occur. The official Russian Ministry of Defense sources don’t publish real information when casualties and loss of life occur. Then, the combatants killed from the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria (KBR) for example, “became known from a {video} published on social networks , filmed at the National Museum of Kabardino-Balkaria, where a military exhibition is located.” [7] It is known to everyone that since the eruption of Russia’s declared war, Ukraine turned out to be a junkyard and graveyard for the destroyed Russian military machinery and equipment, not to mention the different planes and ships.
Conclusion
In this area, the actions of the Russian state must be condemned, which illegally occupied the North Caucasus in general and the Circassian homeland in particular, and its failure to show any intention to recognize the usurped Circassian rights in order to be returned to their original owners. It must be determined and highlighted that the nation’s role is vital in preserving its own national identity and legitimate rights in freedom and self-determination. That must guarantee freedom to choose our own destiny clearly, decisively, and firmly. The time has come to end colonialism. All peoples and nations must be granted their freedom and the right to choose their own destiny without interference or coercion.
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References
[1] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russia-s-secret-funerals/
[2] https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/north-caucasus-ukrainian-war-only-cemeteries-rear
[7] https://vk.com/video152567766_456239238
