The deployment of indigenous people to the frontline has continued outside of the Russia-wide mobilisations, Mr Berezhkov told Metro.
‘The casualties are having a tragic impact on the entire population of the indigenous people in Russia, which will continue for many generations to come,’ he said.
‘We understand that the rate of casualties among the Nenets and other indigenous people is much higher than among other local populations in Russia.
Yana Tannagasheva, a member of the Shor people, has described Russia as an ‘aggressive coloniser’ that is using the ethnic groups to further its war aims and enrich itself from natural resources on land where they have lived since ancient times.
Mr Berezhkov has taken political asylum in Norway, where he lives in Tromso, in common with other advocates of indigenous peoples forced to live in exile outside of Russia.
