How many people in Tyva know Russian? The resource-rich region is in disrepair, and the Russians are unwelcome guests. Former member of the Tuvan parliament, a teacher with extensive experience, Zinaida Dekhtyar, considers the measures taken

This summer, the chairman of the Union of Russian-Speaking Citizens of Tyva, former deputy of the Khural of Representatives of Kyzyl, Viktor Molin, addressed an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lyudmila Narusova, a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation from the executive branch of Tyva. Molin wrote about nationalism, corruption and oppression of the Russian-speaking population in the Republic of Tyva. All these processes, according to the deputy, have worsened since 2007, when Sholban Kara-ool became the head of the republic. It must be said that this is not the first open appeal from dissatisfied residents of Tuva to the President of Russia. The previous one was in 2016. There was no reaction from Moscow then. In August of this year, Andrei Babushkin and I, as members of the Human Rights Council, decided to visit Tyva.

Sholban Kara-ool. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov / TASS

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Tyva

The Republic of Tyva was part of China until 1912; two years later, part of its territory voluntarily entered under Russian protectorate. In 1921, the independent People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva was formed (since 1926 - the Tuvan People's Republic). In 1932, territories inhabited by Tuvans were transferred from Mongolia to Tuva. Tuva became the first state to officially ally the USSR against Germany in 1941. The republic became part of the Soviet Union in 1944 as an autonomous region of the RSFSR.

Tyva is perhaps the only region of Russia where planes do not currently fly from Moscow. There is no railway here either. But there is a road to Khakassia.

Tyva takes 7th place on socio-political sustainability in the country. In the presidential elections, the republic took 4th place in terms of the level of support for Putin (91.98%, with Kabardino-Balkaria in first place - 98.87%).

Tyva is in last place in Russia by quality of life. And on the first - by birth rate(in second place is the Chechen Republic).

By life expectancy Tyva is in last place: 63 years - for the urban population; for rural areas: women - 56.7 years, men - 51.7 years.

Tyva ranks second in the country by unemployment rate(in first place is Ingushetia).

Tyva is in first place in Russia by the number of crimes committed. And on the first one - on murders.

Letter to the Tsar

Victor Molin, ex-deputy of the Khural of Kyzyl representatives:

Victor Molin. Photo: Elena Masyuk / Novaya Gazeta

— There was no reaction from the presidential administration to my letter. Narusova called and said that there would be a meeting with Putin, and she would give him a letter. Lyudmila Borisovna keeps her word.

The deputies of the government of Tuva - Maxim Tunev, Alexander Brokert, Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Evgeniy Ovsyannikov wrote a statement to the prosecutor and the Minister of Internal Affairs against me - for slander and inciting ethnic hatred. Then an investigator from the extremism department came to take my testimony. I referred to Article 51 of the Constitution.

And our deputies of the city Khural assembled a commission and said: “Why did you turn to Putin and Narusova, and not to us? We have no oppression of Russians.” Well, you can understand them: they are school directors or are involved in business, they are afraid...

There are only a little over 20 thousand Russians left here. Previously, the ratio was almost half. I was born and raised here. And now everyone is leaving, leaving, leaving... At the everyday level you can easily hear: “If you don’t like it, go to your own Russia.” Where are they sending us? Russia is here! You live off subsidies from Russia.

In 1991, we fought here, 32% of Russians left then. The then Chairman of the Supreme Council of Tuva, Kaadyr-ool Bicheldei, created the “People's Front of Tuva”, was the Minister of Education and Science, and then Kara-ool made him his deputy. A criminal case was opened against him in 2016 for the theft of 44 million rubles. Last year he was sentenced to three years probation. Now he is the director of the National Museum of Tuva, where the Scythian gold found in the Arzhan-1 and Arzhan-2 mounds is stored. And recently he was recognized as an honorary citizen of the Ulug-Khem kozhuun (district).

During Biceldei’s time, there were entire Tuvan squads that simply threw Russians out of their apartments and moved in themselves. The Russians left for the Sayans - to Abakan and Minusinsk. Then the outflow stopped, we thought: we were born here, we grew up here, we have the graves of our ancestors here, we have nowhere to go. But they still press and press... All these years, almost 30 years. The same thing happened in the Baltic states, then they split off. The same thing will happen here...

Vyacheslav Remezov, military pensioner :

— In 2007, when Kara-ool just came to power, I became the director of the housing and communal services agency in the government, before that I was the deputy mayor of Kyzyl. The republic is small, we all know each other. Six months were enough for us to understand where this government would go, where it would lead the Kara-ool Republic. Especially when Bičeldei was taken into power. Biceldey is an iconic figure for Russians. Oorzhak ( Sherig-ool Oorzhak - head of Tyva from 1992 to 2007. — EAT.) did not allow him to come to power.

Sergey Konviz, publisher of the opposition Tuvan newspaper “Risk”:

— Biceldey is the spiritual inspirer of Kara-ool. And therefore, everyone understands that if the irreplaceable Biheldey is with the first person, then the government’s course will be against the Russians.

Alla Dongur-ool, columnist for the opposition Tuvan newspaper “Risk”:

— In 2009, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tyva held the first republican youth rally. I participated there as a sociologist. They were expecting the head of the republic, Kara-ool, but his deputy Damba-Khuurak arrived. He is a former prosecutor of Tyva. So Anatoly Partizanovich Damba-Khuurak told the Tuvan youth who came from all over the republic (and there were only 13 Russians there) in Tuvan:

“Well, you are our replacement, we are getting old, you will come after us, grow, achieve all the heights, but know that we will have a serious threat. Now they are going to build a railway here, and 40 thousand Russians will come to build it. Think, new generation."

That is, the threat is that the Russians will come. Now Damba-Khuurak is still Kara-ool’s deputy, and he also heads its administration and government apparatus.

Alla Dongur-ool, journalist, and publisher Sergei Konviz. Photo: Elena Masyuk / Novaya Gazeta

Victor Molin:

— It’s hard for Russians to sell housing here. They drive down prices, they know there is nowhere to go, they will sell it anyway. With the money received in Kyzyl for the sale of a three-room apartment, in Abakan you can only buy a one-room apartment.

Sergey Safrin, Director of Selstroy LLC, ex-deputy of the Supreme Khural of Tyva:

— If earlier, in the 90s, people left noisily, there were conversations, rallies, now it’s quiet. Because otherwise the apartment will not be sold. And they are simply afraid. They quietly sell and quietly leave. Superintendents, engineers, chief accountants...

Valery Salchak used to be the chairman of the Accounts Chamber of Tyva

Valery Salchak , ex-chairman of the Accounts Chamber of Tuva :

— Over seven years, from 2010 to 2017, 43 thousand people left the republic.

Sergey Konviz:

— The most active, independent people who leave are the ones who know that they will settle down in a new place, find a job, and that they have the means. Those who remain are those who, either due to health or age, cannot leave, or who do not have money. That is, that part of the population that practically does not participate in the economy.

Where there are Russian leaders, especially business leaders, Russian people, workers, specialists gather there. If the business ceases to operate, the organizer of this business leaves, and the b O the majority of workers.

Russian people are not very convenient for authorities because they often have their own opinions. In this regard, Tuvans are more pliable, they worship bai, and in this regard they are easier to manipulate.

For example, there is an official protocol of the meeting of the political council of “United Russia” in the Piy-Khemsky kozhuun on April 27 of this year, where the secretary of the executive committee Shyryp said that the head of the office of the Head of Tuva, Artur Mongal, ordered him to remove Russians from the chairmen of the PEC, and replace them with Tuvans because they can be influenced. That is, this is the official policy of the Tuvan authorities.

Valery Salchak:

— Last year, Moscow sociologist Sergei Khaikin came to us. He does sociology on Chechnya and Dagestan. And so he said that 40% of the Russians living in Tyva now intend to leave.

reference

Speaking in April of this year at the 8th Grushin Sociological Conference, Advisor to the Head of the Federal Agency for Nationalities Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Khaikin spoke about the study of the ongoing processes in Tyva: “We need to work with the community where there could potentially be social tension. And when we catch this tension, we need to deal with what is happening.<…>Here's an example. Tuva, from which I recently arrived. In Tuva, the most dissatisfied are Russians, who were 39% and who are now, according to statistics, 12%, and perhaps 8%, and where there is a very high level of tension.

The share of citizens who positively assess the state of interethnic relations in the total number of citizens of the Russian Federation on average across the country is 78.9%. And this figure varies from 93% in Khakassia to 60% in St. Petersburg (in general, in large cities this factor is rated lower). But we are now seeing an outburst in the Republic of Tyva, where 67% of citizens who positively assess interethnic relations make up 67%.

Another, from our point of view, clearer indicator characterizing the state of interethnic relations is the answer to the question: “Over the last year, in your region, have you had to deal with distrust, hostility, violation of rights or limitations of opportunities?” 93% say everything is fine. But 5% said that they experience hostility and distrust.<…>this is the population of an entire different country.

“The number of dissatisfied people is not spread out in a layer of one atom throughout the entire territory of the country; it is concentrated, like cancerous tumors, in certain places, causing very serious real and potential conflicts that we must talk about. Here we see zones in which there are not 5%, but 11% - for example, Sakha (Yakutia). We see 27% of people who hate themselves in Tyva, we see 9% in Crimea..."

“You are behaving incorrectly here by building temples.”

Vladimir Khemer-ool, ex-Deputy Head of the Government of Tuva (1998-2001):

— I have expressed dissatisfaction more than once: how can it be that if the Russians are leaving, what kind of development are we having here? I think this: the Russian people are native speakers, bearers of civilization. When we became part of the Soviet Union, Russians poured here, up to 40% of us were Russian. If everyone leaves, how will we speak Russian? There are almost no Russians in the villages anymore; my fellow countrymen are leaving. These are Russians who were born here, their grandfathers were born here. And young Tuvans are also leaving. I worked with Sholban Kara-ool a little, he doesn’t understand personnel policy.

Viktor Zimin (who just lost the elections in Khakassia), on the right - Sholban Kara-ool during Vladmir Putin's fishing trip. Photo: RIA Novosti

Sergey Konviz:

“The authorities see Russians as a danger, because Russians can write a statement, they can testify in court. It’s easier for them with Tuvans. Here we have a former prosecutor, and now the head of the office of the Head of Tuva, Artur Mongal. Nobody knows what he does. Do you know what its main function is? He identifies everyone based on family connections, makes a list: relatives, who works where, who studies where, who can be put under pressure, neighbors, friends, connections. As soon as you need to put pressure on a person, Mongal immediately turns on.

(I don’t know whether this is a coincidence or not, but after Andrei Babushkin and I met with the head of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool, Kara-ool’s secretary gave me a paper from him with information about the relatives of Valery Salchak at the time he headed the Accounts Chamber of the Republic. Judging by this note with personal notes from Kara-ool, out of 30 employees of the Accounts Chamber, only three were not of Tuvan nationality, and nine employees of the chamber were close relatives of Chairman Salchak.— EAT.)

Alla Dongur-ool:

— The Russians who come here on purpose are the FSB, the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Penitentiary Service — these are the Varangians, that’s what we call them. They quickly fall under the influence of the local leadership and do not see or do not want to see what is happening here.

I believe that Russia itself is leaving here. She doesn't protect us. From here official, very good analytical papers go to Moscow, to the presidential administration, and to the Siberian Federal District. But no one pays attention to us, there is no reaction.

Sergey Safrin:

“We have repeatedly written to the President of Russia, to his administration, that there is genocide, nationalism in Tyva... And in response we receive: “Since your message does not contain the essence of the proposal, statement or complaint, it is not possible to give an answer on the essence of its content.” And we have dozens of such answers. They were signed by the advisers of the department of written appeals of citizens and organizations A. Vorontsov, I. Kurov and the consultant of the same department A. Chernyak. They do not respond to our requests. But believe me, literally two, three or four years will pass, and there will be a collapse here, and only Russian-speaking heads of the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Federal Penitentiary Service will come for their appointments. There will be no Russian-speaking population here. Even the priests are leaving here. In two years, five families of priests left. The bishop cannot hold them back. “We can’t, we’re afraid, we have children,” that’s what they say.

reference

Sergei Safrin. Photo: Elena Masyuk / Novaya Gazeta

Sergey Safrin is one of the largest developers in Tyva. His enterprise “Selstroy” began operating in the early 90s. During this time, he built several dozen apartment buildings in Tyva, an avalanche gallery 200 km from Kyzyl, the Buyan-Badyrgi hotel, two university buildings and engineering networks - sewer and water supply in Kyzyl, as well as the fire department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. But in recent years, Sergei Safrin was actually deprived of the opportunity to build under government orders.

Sergey Safrin:

— Why did we have a conflict with Kara-ool? Two years ago was the millennium of the Dormition of St. Vladimir, and at that time they decided to build an Orthodox church of St. Vladimir and erect a monument. After all, Saint Vladimir is the patron saint of both President Putin and Patriarch Kirill (Kirill is Vladimir from birth). And then the bishop told me: “Sergei Viktorovich, we need to build a temple for St. Prince Vladimir in Turan.”

The land in Turan was a draw, there was a forest there, we formalized everything, the regional authorities allocated the land, we notified the head of government and began to build. But we also built a monastery building there and two chapels. We have to maintain it all, and this is coal, this is light... We took it upon ourselves. This was in 2015-2016. And we immediately began to have very negative relations with the government.

I went to Minister Kilizhekov ( Minister of Tuva for regulation of the contract system in the field of procurement. — EAT.), I say: “We go to all auctions. Why are you throwing us out of auctions?” He says: “The command has been given. Go and negotiate." I say: “I will not negotiate with anyone, I don’t owe anyone anything.” All this happened because of the temple. Kara-ool started a war.

I stated that if this problem is not resolved, and I was awarded by both Alexy and Patriarch Kirill, I will be forced to hand over these orders and medals in Moscow, then, I think, they will be concerned about my situation, because this is a protest.

Recently Lyudmila Borisovna Narusova was here, I showed her the temple, after which she talked with Kara-ool. But there is no result yet.

Lyudmila Narusova (center) and Sergei Safrin during a visit to the temple. Photo from the archive of Sergei Safrin

I do not participate in any political parties. I used to be a deputy. But I left and focused only on building and helping our Orthodox Church. However, members of the government (I’m afraid to name who specifically) reprimand me: “Why, Sergei Viktorovich, are our Tuvans converting to Orthodoxy? Why are you translating the Bible into Tuvan?” These are ministers. They say on the phone: “You are behaving incorrectly here, building temples.”

Now we have undertaken to build a temple in Sukpak, in Turan I am restoring a temple in the village of Saryg-Sep in the Kaa-Khem region. If you take a contract, then, of course, there is a profit. We make money, that's my job. But we pay for all utilities in churches.

The government also realized that I do not give them kickbacks. They asked me for kickbacks of about 20-30%, and I told them: I won’t pay out of principle.

What amounts are we talking about? For example, I built a house for 300 million rubles, pay 20-30% in cash. Now they are putting pressure on my business because they have seen that it is impossible to come to an agreement with me.

They realized that Selstroy simply needed to be destroyed, and then the topic of building churches would be closed. Nobody sponsors the construction of churches anymore. But we built not only churches, but also the first Buddhist temple in Tuva.

After all, many Tuvans go to church. And this is blamed on me.

Sergey Konviz:

— When the chairman of the government gave the command not to allow Selstroy to participate in government tenders, Safrin made the following move: he created a group to analyze auction documentation. And when they announce an auction and do not allow it to be auctioned, he makes an analysis of these auctions and submits it to the FAS. And there the auction is cancelled. Of course, construction deadlines are being missed. It happens that the conclusion of a contract for one object fails two or three times. And then Kara-ool directly began to say that “Safrin does not allow us to work, he goes to the authorities, disrupts our auctions, and everything has come to a standstill for us.”

Sergey Safrin:

- Am I not afraid that they will kill me? That’s what Narusova asked me. We are friends with her. My wife and I wanted to leave here this year. But the priests do not give blessings, they say: “You have not finished everything yet.” Is it necessary to ask the priest for permission? That's how it's supposed to be.

Just recently I came to work in the morning, and I had OBEP and the tax office, seizing all the documents. I say: “What do you want? I delivered all the projects, I built everything. The tax audit was completed, I have already paid a 2 million fine there. In May of this year, I re-registered my company in Khakassia. What do you want from me?" And the head of the tax police department, Ondar Chechek Mikhailovna, says: “The Chairman of the Government said, “Why are you building a temple?” I say, “What do you care? I have income in Moscow, I have the right to spend it.” She says:

“He wants to know. We’ll go and measure all the churches and do an analysis.” And they went to measure the temples in the village of Saryg-Sepe, in Turan, in Kyzyl. They counted all the materials, they turned me inside out.

Then the head of the republican inspection says: “Sergei Viktorovich, you have claims for a million rubles.” I say: “What problems. We'll pay." That's all. A year ago we finished this, and they came here again, and again: “For what? Where did you get the money? Tuvans go to churches... You translate the Bible into Tuvan..."

Photo: RIA Novosti

At a meeting with the Head of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool, we asked him about the conflict with businessman Sergei Safrin.

Sholban Kara-ool:

— Safrin’s profile as a person, as an entrepreneur... That the temple in Turan, that he was the only one who built the Resurrection Church in Kyzyl, is not true. I did everything to ensure that these churches were built, primarily through my decisions, which I made in his favor through the FSB.

In 2012, people in masks and with machine guns came to me here, primarily because this Safrin had another conflict with the state, in this case with the FSB, and he began to write papers one after another, including ROC and everywhere else, about the fact that the FSB is bad. The FSB came to my reception and asked: “Give us the guest register. When and with whom did the head of Kara-ool meet?” Then they found out when Safrin came to see me. This was followed by questions about why I decided to allocate funds for the construction of a youth palace in favor of Safrin. We must understand that Safrin built these cathedrals, including through our government orders.

Elena Masyuk:

— But Safrin invested his own money?

Sholban Kara-ool:

- No it is not true. It was built on government contracts. He built, and through this we built these churches.

Andrey Babushkin:

“But Safrin now even pays for the heating of churches at his own expense.

Sholban Kara-ool:

- Is this the same incident that he should talk about everywhere? The position he defends sounds very cool. He presents himself as a man who built churches and suffered for it. It is not true. I really don’t like that he always inserts the topic of blackmail into his business situation.

Andrey Babushkin:

- What is blackmail?

Sholban Kara-ool:

- That they are allegedly persecuting him because he built a church. It is not true. His business is based only on government orders. Now, if he built, for example, commercial housing and, while earning money, built churches... But in this case, this is not so.

Believe me, in Tyva there is no such thing as some kind of monster that gives nothing to someone. Is there some kind of oppression of Russians here? But then let the Tuvans complain about the fact that they are not allowed to do business. And so we reach an abnormal situation. If you look at the breakdown of entrepreneurship, then most likely there are many more Russian entrepreneurs than Tuvans. This is the reality of Tuva. And this is neither good nor bad, it is so.

Russian as a foreign language

Portrait of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the Republican Administration building. Shoigu was born in Tyva. Today they talk about him here like this: “Thanks to Shoigu, Tyva has a chance to develop.” Photo: Elena Masyuk / Novaya Gazeta

Sergey Konviz:

— Tuvan has been spoken in the city hall at government meetings for a long time now. Russian is taught as a foreign language in the districts. In schools, everyone is taught in the Tuvan language. But teaching Russian as a foreign language is unacceptable, since Russian is the state language. ( At the same time, in the Decree of the Tyva government on the approval of the republican state program “Development of the Russian language for 2014-18” talks about methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language. — EAT.). Young people do not speak Russian at all.

If there is no Russian society, if there is no communication in Russian, Russian becomes foreign. This is an axiom, there is no escape from it. And we came to this, the prosecutor’s office established this, declared that the situation was alarming, but nothing further...

From the resolution of the Kyzyl interdistrict prosecutor's office of the Republic of Tyva (January 2013)

“Inadequate study of the state language can become an obstacle for citizens to obtain further secondary or higher professional education, military service, employment, freedom of movement and choice of place of residence outside the Republic of Tyva.

In addition, ignorance of the Russian language violates the constitutional rights and interests of citizens, making them dependent on their linguistic affiliation, which can affect the formation of a culture of interethnic and interfaith relations. The state language helps to strengthen interethnic ties between the peoples of Russia in a single multinational state.

There were cases at school when teachers of Russian language and literature taught the subject in the Tuvan language, which negatively affected the students’ knowledge.”

Vyacheslav Remezov:

— We have 16 kozhuuns and two city districts. That is, there are 36 heads of districts and chairmen of executive committees, of which only one is Russian. There is not a single Russian among the heads of the administration. There is no chairman of the court. Not a single head of the district clinic. Of the 165 school directors, 15 are Russian. There are no Russians at the tax office. All events that are held at the state level, as a rule, are held in Tuvan, and are rarely bilingual.

Sergey Konviz:

— One hundred and twenty-three villages in Tyva, and in more than a hundred villages there are no Russian people at all, there is no communication in Russian.

Zinaida Dekhtyar, teacher of Russian language and literature, Honored Education Worker of Tyva:

— Tuva began translating Pushkin into Tuvan in 1953. We have a Russian language department at a university where there is not a single Russian teacher. Who should create a Russian-speaking environment? Managers must speak two official languages. And this equality of languages ​​is not respected in Tuva. The officials demonstratively speak the Tuvan language. That is why there is such an attitude towards the Russian language. And, accordingly, to the Russian people.

Sergey Konviz:

— It happens that we interrogate witnesses in court, and fourth-year students require an interpreter. Because at the university they also teach in Tuvan.

Sergey Safrin:

— Young people come to me to work with their parents, do you know why? They don't know Russian. And parents translate for their children.

Zinaida Dekhtyar:

— Whatever statistics are cited, there is one important indicator. The annual report of the Ministry of Education clearly indicates how many classes are with a native, non-Russian language, and how many are with Russian. So with the Russians it’s a tiny amount. Hence the level of education of young people that exists in Tyva.

On the right is Zinaida Dekhtyar at a meeting with members of the Human Rights Council. Photo: Elena Masyuk

reference

The annual report (2016) of the Ministry of Education and Science of Tyva talks about the results of the National Study of the Quality of Education, conducted by the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science. Diagnostic work on history gave the following results:

All of Russia: 6th grade was rated “2” by 33.1%, 8th grade by 38.1%, Republic of Tyva, 6th grade by 62%, 8th grade by 68.5%.

Diagnostic work in natural history:

All of Russia: 6th grade was rated “2” by 24.5%, 8th grade by 37.9%. Republic of Tyva: 6th grade - 52.6%, 8th grade - 57.5%.

« Old people speak Russian perfectly well, but young people hardly know Russian, why is this happening?” — I asked the head of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool. “It’s a problem,” he replied. — I took office and tried to give positioning to the study of the Russian language. The first thing we did was create the position of state inspector for the Russian language at the level of the First Deputy Minister of Education. In this position we have a teacher who is responsible for the development of the Russian language.

When Putin initiated the “Zemsky Doctor” program, that is, the state allocates 1 million rubles to doctors who come to the village, we tried by analogy to do the same for teachers who are native speakers of Russian. We are allocating them 1 million rubles from our republican budget. This is a lot of money for us. A young guy came to Ivanovo, worked for a year and said that he couldn’t do it anymore, it was hard, the climate... And no hand was raised to take this million from him. And the contract was for three years. But several more girls came to us, they work in several kozhuuns. Now there are five such teachers. If I succeeded in life, it was also thanks to Russian teachers. We built a monument to them - the first Russian teachers. This is exactly our attitude.

We can be blamed for bad economic policies, but in no case against Tuvans and Russians.

Because I myself grew up in this environment, I am in good health and I understand that we live in big Russia. I have more Russian friends than Tuvans, and I think more in Russian than in Tuvan.”

Relatives

Vyacheslav Remezov:

— There are official, approved by Putin, 24 criteria for evaluating governors. Kara-ool has been in power for eleven years. Over these eleven years, Tyva has ranked last in many indicators.

Kara-ool accommodated all his relatives. One brother sits in the Supreme Khural, the unspoken leader of all construction. I remember I went to the Ministry of Construction, and he stood there and gave the minister instructions: “Transfer money to this one, you wait, but this is how much for you.” Until now, he oversees all construction and all personnel policies.

Further. My cousin is the mayor of the city and has been in office for 11 years. Kyzyl is recognized as the most criminal city in Russia. One nephew was first a senator, now he represents Tyva in the State Duma. The second nephew has been working as the secretary of the Central Election Commission for 11 years. I don’t take more distant relatives, who are also all local.

An ordinary person gets a job, say, in the police, so they check all his ins and outs, God forbid, one of his relatives has a criminal record. And then Kara-ool’s brother was convicted of selling a shipment of drugs - and nothing happened. The daughter of the convicted brother first became a judge of the magistrate court, and now she is already in the Kyzyl city court.

reference

“On January 25, the court of the Zheleznodorozhny District of Krasnoyarsk announced a sentence for a native of Tyva, Leonid Kara-ool: 3 years in prison. The defendant was detained in Krasnoyarsk with a briefcase containing 2.6 kilograms of hashish. “A year ago I was offered to buy a car,” said Leonid Kara-ool. “I drove it here by proxy for a very long time, got into an accident, and broke it a little.” Almost six months later they call and ask to pay. Moreover, they say that what is needed is not money, but Tuvan hashish. Help, it’s needed for domestic consumption, bring it carefully, and we’ll be even, we don’t need money. Well? If men ask, we need to help, especially since I already crashed the car. I collected these unfortunate “boxes” [matchboxes] and went to Krasnoyarsk, as requested...”

Newspaper "Tribuna" (02.02.2007)

Three brothers: Yuri, Sholban, Leonid Kara-ool (from left to right). Photo: Central Asia

Members of the HRC also discussed the problem of family ties at a meeting with the head of the republic.

Elena Masyuk:

— Your opponents, Sholban Valerievich, say that you rely on your relatives in government.

Sholban Kara-ool:

“I don’t think they could say anything like that.” Fact, give me one fact.

Elena Masyuk:

— For example, that the mayor of Kyzyl, Vladislav Tovarishtayovich Khovalyg, is your cousin.

Sholban Kara-ool:

“If anyone knows how I feel about this “cousin,” then they are unlikely to think about the fate of this “relative.” In this case, I will do everything to prevent him from being elected for another term. Not because they appeal to me that he is my relative, but because I have accumulated complaints about his activities. Personally to him.

The surname Khovalyg is like the Ivanovs among Russians, they have the same surname, but they are not relatives.

In this case, the surname Khovalyg is really the surname of my paternal family (Kara-ool Valery Khovalygovich) and the surname of the mayor of Kyzyl. But we are from different clans, we are from different communities of Tuva. Here is my predecessor Sherig-ool Oorzhak ( Head of Tyva from 1990 to 2007 od. — EAT.) was fond of compatriotic characteristics, and Vladislav Khovalyg was just a member of the administration of my predecessor. Surely it was no coincidence that he appeared there, because his father was from the same area where my predecessor was from. I have no family ties with him.

Another thing is that his mother studied with my mother at a pedagogical school. And when my mother holds some holidays, a birthday, he probably appears there. And, moreover, he doesn’t particularly try to distance himself from this matter, that he is a relative. I assume that this is also, to a certain extent, protection for him. I think so.

Elena Masyuk:

— And your brother heads the Committee on Economics in Khural...

Sholban Kara-ool:

— Yuri Valerievich Kara-ool is my brother, he was elected to the legislative body in a single-mandate constituency. I asked him to win, he is an active deputy. It was enough for me when the parliament was out of control, when a member of parliament came here with his aunt (he is the head physician of one of the medical institutions, she is also a doctor). They bargained with me: give us 200 thousand rubles so that I can vote for the budget. I realized for myself that we need to deal with parliament, and there should be patriots and sane people there. From this point of view, I think that

my brother in Parliament is my eye, if only to see the internal currents. I'm telling you this for the first time. He could quite formally simply answer: excuse me, he was elected through the people.

Elena Masyuk:

— And your second brother was convicted of drugs...

Sholban Kara-ool:

— In 2007, when I was being approved for my position in the presidential administration of the Russian Federation, my brother was caught by the FSB with cannabis. I think this is a provocation. But President Putin, despite this, invited me about my vision of the situation in Tyva, what needs to be done for the development of the republic. He casually asked: “What do you think about your brother? Are you not involved? I said that I think that my brother lived very good years. How he returned after Afghanistan, only we know what provoked him to act in such a way, that he ran with cannabis... I know that this is a provocation of the purest water, I also know the performers who did it. I clearly understand that I must be punished. This is my closest relative. I say: “As deemed necessary.” The President believed me.

Just a month ago, suddenly another public organization nominated my brother for some kind of award. I ran to him and said: “Listen, I beg you, you need to live now with your eyes lowered. And in connection with my activities, please try, while I am in office, not to encourage initiatives regarding your appearance in society.”

Meanwhile, this is my older brother, one of the most active people in the republic, he was a member of the CPSU, and headed the Tuvan branch here. In this regard, this is, unfortunately, a family tragedy for me.

Andrey Babushkin:

— Prisoners who served their sentences in IK-4 in Tyva together with your brother told me that he behaved very honorably in the colony, defended the rights of prisoners...

Sholban Kara-ool:

— My brother tried to shoot himself when he returned home...

The Union of Russian-speaking Citizens of Tuva recently to the President of Russia with an open letter, which spoke about the unenviable position of Russian speakers in the republic. A Bell of Russia columnist contacted the main authors of the appeal to clarify their claims and find out whether life in Tuva is really so bad for ethnic Russians.

“Nothing good will happen with the clan of the current head”

Deputy of the Kyzyl City Assembly Victor Molin believes that under the current leadership of the republic over the past ten years, the condition of the Russian-speaking population has approached that of the early 90s of the last century.

It would be appropriate to recall that the Republic of Tyva became famous for the first Russian pogroms in the USSR. In the 1990s, Tuvan youth, with the open approval of local authorities, attacked the homes of Russian-speaking citizens in rural areas. Gangs of Tuvan villagers operated in the cities and attacked ethnic minorities with impunity. At that time, about 50% of the Russian-speaking population lived in Tuva, a significant part of which was forced to leave the region. Moreover, the first to leave Tuva were the heads of various government bodies, including the head of the local department of the KGB of the USSR.

“Bell of Russia”: Tell us what made you turn directly to the president of the country?

Victor Molin: In our letter, we decided to tell senior management about pressing problems; it is simply impossible to remain silent about them any longer. The first is the continuing outflow of the Russian population from Tuva, which in itself is very significant. During nine years of reign Sholban Kara-oola the number of ethnic Russians in our country has decreased from 18% to 6% (here it should be noted that according to the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, there were 16.3% Russians in the republic, although the downward trend in numbers is still obvious- approx. auto ). In financial and administrative positions - in the treasury, tax inspectorate, government leadership - you are unlikely to find at least one Russian. They are simply not hired for these positions; open competitions for filling positions are a pure fiction. All places have already been booked in advance for acquaintances and classmates of the current officials.

KR: Clanism has always been a distinctive feature of the eastern regions. Do you think that the current leadership of Tuva has already completely “lost its shores”?

V.M.: In our republic, everything is run by three Kara-ool brothers: Sholban, Yuri and Leonid. The first is in charge, the second, they say, is responsible for “protection protection” and kickbacks, plus he controls the alcohol market, and the third, as many suspect, is involved in the sale of cannabis and is responsible for drug trafficking.

So we really wanted to Vladimir Putin did not give Kara-oolu consent to resign early and enter a new election campaign. And literally on Monday, the Rossiya-24 channel showed a conversation between Putin and Kara-ool, in which the president approved the decision of our head. So now he is guaranteed a third term - I know very well how our election commission handles such matters.

This is our third big problem - the lack of a right field in Tuva. Drawing the “correct” numbers on elections is complemented by the terrible work of the courts making illegal decisions. The prosecutor's office prefers not to interfere in these problems until it gets really hot.

KR: In your letter, you also mentioned that the head recently appointed an outspoken separatist as his deputy.

V.M.: Bicheldei Kaadyr-ool stood at the origins of the separatist movement - the Popular Front of Tuva, which loudly declared itself in the early 90s. With his active participation, the constitution of the republic was drawn up, in which the very first article stated that Tyva has the right to freely secede from Russia. Later, with great difficulty, we removed this item.

Kaadyr-ool worked in leadership positions for many years - he headed the Supreme Khural, he was the Minister of Education. By the way, for sabotaging the development of the Russian language, the Russian Ministry of Education eventually insisted on his resignation from this position. Now he has been appointed deputy head of government, as if as an edification to all of us.

Moreover, our head is now flirting with China - he constantly goes there for vacation and business negotiations, Chinese companies come to our region. Therefore, we no longer have the strength to endure, and our letter to the president appeared.

KR: Judging by the comments online, the oppression of Russian speakers and Orthodox Christians in Tuva continued in the 2000s. I read in the comments of ordinary citizens that students and military personnel sent to the republic are warned - stay at home in the evenings, do not show yourself on the street. Is this still relevant now?

V.M.: Of course, I myself try to be home before it gets dark. We have already forgotten what it’s like to walk through the evening Kyzyl, through the local parks.

They say that our republic is a tourist zone. You know, there was such a case recently - visiting tourists were going down through the taiga on boats, and the locals waylaid the group and shot one of them in the stomach - that's all tourism for you. Last September, a Russian-speaking forester stopped six people in the reserve for the purpose of checking. He was hit in the forehead with a rifle butt and stabbed to death, but his brother managed to escape - they shot him in the back. Just recently - on May 6th of this year - someone shot at a Russian forester again. Fortunately, the bullet missed. That is how we live.

KR: Soon after your appeal, a response letter appeared from the Russian-speaking residents of the republic; it was signed, among other things, by high officials and deputies. The essence of their letter boils down to the fact that everything is normal in the republic, and you are simply escalating the situation before the elections. What can you tell them?

V.M.: I am well aware that the idea of ​​such a letter came from officials who were lured by the current government. Many signatories simply had no choice - they were forced to do this by order. We can say that after the resonance that our appeal caused, the authorities began to process people accordingly and put severe pressure on many.

KR: How are things going in your law enforcement agencies? Is it possible that their leadership neglects to protect the rights of Russian speakers?

V.M.: On the one hand, the heads of federal law enforcement agencies: the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the prosecutor's office, the FSB, the Investigative Committee - we are all appointed from other regions. This certainly has a positive effect on the general atmosphere in the republic.

But at the same time, security officials who are considered independent receive rewards from local authorities for loyal behavior, let’s say, for non-interference in their affairs. Corruption and crime are rampant in Tuva - you can see this just by reading the official statistics. According to my information, schoolchildren in our villages collect hemp en masse, then hand over the goods to the brother of the head of the region, and with the money they buy themselves a uniform, etc. (note that there is no officially confirmed information on this thesis and it should be considered as a version, an assumption - approx. KR). And all this is done almost officially. Myself Leonid Kara-ool caught in Krasnoyarsk with 2.6 kg of drugs. He served a year and a half, and now he’s back in action - working with young people in the veterans’ organization “Combat Brotherhood,” although he prefers to keep a low profile. As you can see, we have our untouchables...

KR: You also stated the difficult situation with the study of the Russian language in Tuva. Is it true that Russian is often taught as a foreign language in the region?

V.M.: Yes, we have many national schools, especially in sumons (rural settlements), where children cannot put two words together in Russian. In general, the Russian-speaking population is concentrated mainly in Kyzyl and its suburbs, and in several other sumons, where Old Believers traditionally live. And where only Tuvans live, there is no one to claim the right to study in their native language. Accordingly, Russian there is actually equated with foreign language. Out of 140 schools, only 17 directors are Russian. And excellent grades at school turn out to be fake when Tuvan graduates come to study at universities. It becomes obvious that most of them cannot even pass the Unified State Examination standard.

“There is no Russian-speaking environment in the regions of Tuva”

Former member of the Tuvan parliament, an experienced teacher, Zinaida Dekhtyar, considers the measures taken by local authorities to support the Russian language to be ineffective.

“Bell of Russia”: Last year, the Unified State Examination results in the Russian language in Tuva turned out to be one of the worst in Russia. How do you assess the efforts of the authorities to correct the situation?

Zinaida Dekhtyar: Indeed, the level of Russian language proficiency in the republic is now very low. This was confirmed by our head in a recent interview. He himself noted that the main obstacle for Tuvans to obtain higher education in Russia is their poor knowledge of the Russian language.

Yes, we have introduced the position of state inspector for the Russian language, but the work is carried out mainly at the level of mobilization and coordination of all kinds of cultural events, methodological plans, and so on. But the worst thing is that we do not have a Russian-speaking environment in kozhuuns (municipal areas of the republic). Of course, we have a project to create it - the head of Tuva offers to invite native speakers to the villages for huge sums of money. But we don’t have enough millions, and there are a lot of villages, so I don’t consider this a way out of the situation.

KR: What would you change in language policy if it were up to you?

Z.D.: It seems to me that it would be much more reasonable and economical to work on creating an environment of Russian speakers at the level of government bodies, because in our kozhuuns people have stopped speaking Russian altogether, including officials. If they were obliged to do this, to participate in official events in Russian, if people saw that they are native speakers both by position and by the dictates of their hearts, then we would have a Russian-speaking environment throughout Tuva.

But here we come across another problem - officials answer us: you know, we officially have two state languages. Nobody argues with this, but we must not forget that Russian is the language of interethnic communication. We can refer to the two state languages ​​in the Constitution of Tuva as much as we like; this does not relieve us of the task of teaching the younger generation to communicate with other peoples. And then the issues of tolerance, as well as higher education, will be resolved and, as a result, many economic problems of our region will disappear.

KR: It is known that in Tuva there are many schools in which all education is conducted in the national language. Doesn't this affect the rights of Russian speakers?

Z.D.: According to the Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation,” education can be conducted in any of the state languages. And if in one or another municipality they choose a basic plan according to which all subjects up to high school are taught in Tuvan, it is clear that local schoolchildren experience huge problems when switching to Russian.

Naturally, the Russian-speaking population has a guaranteed right to receive education in Russian, but the thing is that in most areas there are basically no native speakers and a Russian-speaking environment left, which is why Russian is taught in schools as a foreign language.

Since the Russian-speaking population in Tuva is decreasing every year, we have the following picture: in rural schools in the Russian class there are children, of whom only one or two are representatives of a non-titular nation. Naturally, they speak with an accent; they have no everyday communication skills. It turns out that our authorities are following the path of least resistance, continuing to aggravate the situation.

KR: How do you assess the knowledge of the Russian language among local officials? They, logically and by law, are obliged to be able to use it.

Z.D.: You know, when they give interviews, you grab your head. Believe me, this is not an idle question for me - I was born and raised in Tuva, received my education here, I teach at school myself, so I have something to compare with. Now our situation is really close to critical.

The competitions that our officials go through say that they must speak all state languages. However, in everyday life almost all of them speak their native language. And it is impossible to make a remark, because the answer is immediately heard: “and Tuvan is our state language - who can forbid us to speak it? If you don’t like it, learn it yourself!”

KR: Based on all this, we must assume that you decided to sign the appeal of Russian-speaking Tuvans to the president. However, among your colleagues in Tuva there is a different point of view - that interethnic harmony reigns in the republic, the Russian language is fully supported by the authorities, etc...

Z.D.: Yes, many representatives of the Russian-speaking society are now pressuring us in the media, telling us how ungrateful we are. But you know, if everything is fine with us, why does the share of the Russian population in the republic continue to decrease? After all, this is a key indicator. I won’t go deeper into the village, let’s take only city schools - look at the percentage of teachers of non-titular people who teach Russian? How many are there in the Russian language department at Tuva State University? This is also very important.

In the end, I am concerned that smart, educated children of various nationalities, including the titular one, prefer to leave the region at the first good opportunity. If they are looking for somewhere better, it means that the socio-economic situation of Tuva is worsening.

The conversation was conducted by Ivan Vaganov

At the Kyzyl airport, a thin young girl rocks her son to sleep. A whining boy in his arms - with long curly curls. Next to him is his older brother. He has short hair. I understand why and I am glad that at least a little, just a little, I understand the language of the ancient traditions of this amazing people. The youngest is not yet three, and Tuvans do not cut their children’s hair until they are three—it’s a custom. The eldest has already crossed this threshold; at the age of three, one of his close relatives cut his hair, giving him his first living creature in return: a horse or a cow. This family of recent students (already with two children!) lives in Novosibirsk. And the cattle that belong to them graze in the vastness of their small homeland - in shepherd camps, of which there are hundreds in the republic.

For a Tuvan, a horse is not just a means of transportation. “If you have a good horse, you can earn four cars over the summer.” Horse racing is very popular in the republic, and the prizes for the winners are very substantial. Photo: Nina Ruzanova

“There are few of us, and we are all relatives, we all help each other,” say the Tuvans, and if this is an exaggeration, then it is a slight one. Livestock continues to be given to a child under 18 years of age, this is how Tuvan “children’s capital” is formed, and these are not fairy tales.

Doctor of Religious Studies, head of the department of the Tuvan Institute of Humanitarian and Applied Socio-Economic Research, Ulyana Biheldey confirmed to RG: her 13-year-old grandson also has such capital, who, by the way, having matured, is going to raise 5-6 children.

Guests at the kyshtag are constantly seated at the table and treated to national dishes. And at parting they give a lamb tail. Photo: Nina Ruzanova

The traditions of nomads do not die, and now there is a huge amount of livestock in the republic. They are not trying to tax every one of a million sheep here - and this is the wisdom of the leadership of Tuva. Yes, there are millionaire shepherds, but they will never in their lives register an individual entrepreneur and will not share it with the state. It’s better to provide for yourself and your relatives. So the people are well-fed and the sheep are safe - the introduction of a fiscal burden can, at any time, lead to the destruction of the livestock.

The government not only does not destroy, but supports the traditional way of life, and for good reason: the programs that stand on this age-old foundation are incredibly popular. For example, “Kyshtag for a young family”: young people under 35 years of age who do not have a job receive 200 sheep for free (credit mechanisms are involved, but in fact the program participant does not pay anything, the money is from the budget). The family is also allocated funds for arranging a winter camp: a kishtag is a winter hut. On a site carefully chosen by the elders (it is important to take into account everything, right down to the wind rose), a house and pens for livestock are built. After two years, the family must return these 200 sheep and pass them on to the next novice shepherd. And they keep the offspring for themselves. “I want to live like this too!” - sigh the officials who are not allowed to participate in the program, although many are eager to write a letter of resignation from power in order to be taken into the kishtag.

It is possible to understand them. 26-year-old Syrga and 33-year-old Arseniy Mongush more than doubled their flock: 200 were given away, and another 310 remained. The “earned” herd continues to multiply: lambing has begun in the parking lot, lambs are rushing around the shed, and Syrga is happy. "What are you dreaming about?" - I ask. “I will live here until I grow old,” Syrga answers seriously without hesitation. They sell meat - one lamb “from a shepherd” costs five thousand rubles. By the way, Syrga’s brother is immediately found, a young specialist who trained as a biology teacher, but is “temporarily unemployed”: there are no vacancies at the school. It seems that the temporary will become permanent for him: there is enough work in the parking lot, and he is not eager to teach for 15 thousand rubles. It’s hard to exchange the mesmerizing space here for narrow school corridors...

The site of Syrgi and Arseny is in the Sut-Khol district, near the village of Kara-Chyraa. There are great hopes for young shepherds (a family worthy of a kyshtag is chosen at a meeting by vote), and not only in livestock farming. Three elegant yurts were erected not far from Mongush’s house: they intend to bring tourists here. Nearby is the red mountain Kyzyl-Taiga, and there is the sacred lake Sut-Khol with milky water: the route is ready for guests.

Tuva has been holding the “banner” of Russia’s demographic leader for many years. The national average for the percentage of large families is 5.8. In Tuva - 32

Tuva has been holding the “banner” of Russia’s demographic leader for many years. The national average for the percentage of large families is 5.8. In Tuva - 32. This is 30,600 families in a region with a population of 315 thousand. The republic gives birth without any artificial incentives, and even, in the opinion of the urban egoist, in spite of everything. Because Tuvans, unlike many of us, remember eternal truths - the essence of life is not in its notorious “quality”, not in square meters per person and not in megabits per second. They remember that a small child is a god who walks among us. And that motherhood is sacred. A woman who gave birth to many children was always revered here above all others. And those who did not have children were shunned.

"If you have a lot of children, you are rich!" Eres utters this phrase in a conversation with me - in the village of Bai-Khaak he is a lama (spiritual mentor in Buddhism, studied at the datsan in Ulan-Ude), and he himself does not have as many children as he would like: only four, the youngest is three of the year. Eres and his wife Choiganmaa also raised her brother’s five children, who were left orphans. Choiganmaa got her first job a couple of months ago - as a lawyer at a district hospital for 18 thousand. Eres does not take money for his prayers, only donations: whoever can, as much as he can. Child benefits - 700 rubles per month for everyone. How do they live? Subsistence farming.

Alla Ondar, who heads the administration of the village of Balgazyn (nearby there is a pine forest, this is a nature reserve), is bursting with energy: “We have calculated everything! If you make jam and fuel from cones - you would know how happily they burn in the oven! - then you will not lose money "The jam would be sold in Kyzyl. Or even outside of Tuva. We just need to find partners - maybe the newspaper will help us?" It’s still difficult with partners. Now the republic is somewhat reminiscent of the Magic Land from the fairy tale about Ellie and her friends: it was separated from the rest of the world by impassable mountains, which the heroes overcame in different ways. So is Tuva - on one side there is a mountain (“to go beyond the Sayans” is a common expression here), on the other there is the border with Mongolia, which can only be crossed by citizens of Russia and Mongolia, others have no access. The region's economy is essentially an enclave.

The leadership of Tuva has been struggling for several years to change the status of the border and make it multilateral. To no avail. There are long-standing orders of the border service that no one is going to change. But if the border were opened and Kyzyl airport was made international, ties with China would instantly improve. It was possible to sell meat and other livestock products there, which are now not transported anywhere outside the republic - too expensive. Local coal, which is now unprofitable to export, and other minerals would also go there. Plus tourists, now their number in the mega-attractive region per year does not reach 100 thousand (for comparison: in the Altai Territory there are more than a million), and all due to low transport accessibility. Rare Chinese guests get to Tuva in a roundabout way: through Krasnoyarsk or Novosibirsk, although the direct distance from Kyzyl to Urumqi is a little more than a thousand kilometers.

"We need a gateway to Asia!" - Representatives of Tuva almost cry at major economic forums. “We don’t have a lot of gates, why have one more?” - they answer. Although the costs for developing the border and airport are not so much. Much more funds are needed for the construction of the Kuragino-Kyzyl railway: over the years, this project has become more and more fantastic. Over 140 billion rubles, and most of it should belong to a private investor. There are no people willing to invest that kind of money in a long-term project.

True, to be fair, let’s say that many Tuvans would not even want rapid economic growth, which would inevitably lead to the destruction of the territory’s identity. For example, Ulyana Bicheldei recently returned from Mongolia, where she studied the life of local Tuvans. They live, perhaps, poorer than ours. But they are completely happy with what they have: air, crystal clear water, children... Maybe it’s no coincidence that our Tuva is hiding from the invasion of strangers behind the Sayan Mountains?

In the minds of the Russian average, Tuva is something like Chukotka, where a quiet, peaceful little people of reindeer herders live, albeit of a different race, and dote on their “big brother.” However, this does not correspond to the actual state of affairs.
The Republic of Tuva (also Tyva) became famous for the fact that the first Russian pogroms in the USSR began on its territory in the 1990s. Tuvan youth, with the undisguised approval of the majority of Tuvans and Tuvan officials, began to destroy Russian houses in the rural areas of Tuva. Crowds of aggressive rural Tuvans flocked to the cities, pre-oriented to attack any Russians who could be beaten, robbed or killed with impunity.

(Total 6 photos)

History of the conflict

At the end of the 1980s, in the article “It’s better to build bridges,” the 1st Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Komsomol of Tuva V. Kochergin wrote: “Even when there were certain acts of youth that could be called nationalistic, we called them only hooligans (...) We must admit that the guys who come to the city from the countryside are not cultured enough" (May 2, 6, 1989). Doctor Kanunnikov A., in his letter to the editors of Tuvinskaya Pravda, writes: “Recently, victims at the hands of extremist-minded youth are increasingly being admitted to the hospital (...) I lived in Tuva for 33 years and did not notice when the sprouts of manifestations of nationalism first appeared. (...) The increasing frequency of brutal beatings in unprovoked fights, knife wounds with which young people are admitted to the hospital... all this makes one feel uneasy" (September 2, 3, 1989, "Unity Required"). Another doctor, Vereshchagin V.A., says: “Almost a third of the operations we carry out are the result of crimes” (September 2, 3, 1989, “Four deaths in spite”). A Russian doctor at the Republican Hospital L., in a conversation with me, complained that “in recent years it has become impossible to work. Attacks on medical staff by Tuvan patients have become more frequent. The police do not protect us in any way” (1993).

At that time, almost 50% of the Russian population lived in Tuva, but, realizing that Moscow had actually turned a blind eye to what was happening and was morally ready to hand over Tuva to local nationalists, the Russian commanders were the first to flee Tuva, among whom was the head of the USSR KGB Directorate.

It is not surprising that after him this position was taken by a Tuvan, to put it mildly, not at all concerned about the problems of the Russian population. After 1992, the squeezing out of the Russians moved into a more “calm”, confident and systematic phase. According to the testimony of those who were forced to leave, the Tuvan majority fired Russians where they could, and where they could not, the enterprises went bankrupt.

Left without work, Russians were mostly simply forced to leave in search of work and personal safety. This period includes scandals involving the squeezing out of large groups of Russian officers from the republican FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. From that time to this day, the following factors have affected the migration of Russians from Tuva:

One of the highest crime rates in Tuva per capita, and it is Russians, all other factors being equal, who become the most preferred targets of crime
- discrimination against Russians when applying for jobs and appointments to positions
- The decline of the Tuvan economy and, as a consequence, a low standard of living compared to the Russian average. In 1990, Tuva provided its budget by approximately 40%, now by 12%, everything else is a subsidy from Moscow.

In 1990, tensions reach their peak. In the spring and summer, processes take place in the republic that among the local population are called the “events of 1990.” Interethnic relations are worsening in cities and towns with a mixed ethnic composition. In the urban settlement Khov-Aksy, where a metallurgical enterprise, large on the scale of Tuva, was located, in the spring of 1990, fights began between Russian and Tuvan, pogroms of the Russian-speaking population, and, as a result, a mass departure of Russians from the village. By August, 1,600 people had left the village (August 2, 15, 1990, “United front to eradicate crime”). It is the unrest in Khovu-Aksy that many informants call the beginning of the “events of 1990.” ...

On average, 20-40 crimes per day occur throughout the republic during this period. “The governing bodies of the republic, the regional committee of the CPSU, basically classify cases of conflicts on interethnic grounds as hooliganism...” (August 2, 23, 1990, “Will we find a path to agreement?”). In a sense, the meeting that took place in Kyzyl on the square can be considered a turning point in these events. Lenin at the end of June 1990. The reason for the rally was the murder of Russian fishermen on the lake. Sut-Khol. According to the Russians interviewed, this murder was directly related to hostility based on interethnic relations. ... The press also raises the question of the outflow of the Russian-speaking population outside the republic.

Putin's reign

The director of the Human Rights Center of the World Russian People's Council, Roman Silantiev, who returned from the Republic of Tyva in the spring of 2009, spoke about the catastrophic situation of the Orthodox and Russian-speaking population in the republic. In the impoverished, 96% subsidized region, most of whose residents earn money by growing cannabis, anti-Russian, anti-Orthodox and separatist sentiments are intensifying.

“The outflow of the Russian-speaking population from the republic continues, and it cannot be explained only by economic reasons,” says Roman Silantiev. “The crime level in Tyva is simply off the charts, and Russian-speaking people, even in the capital, are not recommended to leave their houses after sunset. Only in the last three years have there been bandits "Two employees of the Holy Trinity Church in Kyzyl were killed and another was severely beaten."

Indeed, if back in 1980 the Russian-speaking population of the Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was 33%, now they are 18-20%, and this number only continues to steadily decline.

Ethnic Russians living in Tyva are afraid to leave their houses in the evenings. Russian business travelers arriving in the republic are immediately warned: “Don’t go outside after dinner.”

From time to time in Tyva, “unknown attackers” carry out demonstrative acts of intimidation against Russians. According to a journalist from one of the capital's publications, a couple of days before his arrival, a group of Tuvan youth shouted “death to the Russians!” attacked a Russian couple leaving a bowling alley in Kyzyl. The husband was beaten to death, the wife escaped with broken bones. The criminals did not take any money or valuables.

On the fence of the Orthodox church under construction in the capital of the republic, inscriptions constantly appear: “Russians, get out!” During the presidential elections, leaflets were distributed throughout Tyva: “Russians are our enemies.”

Letter to the Kyzyl newspaper "Risk" (2004)

“Nikolai Aleksandrovich Ilyin is writing to you from the village of Sailyg. I have lived in Tuva since 1950, worked as a driver at the Tuvacobalt plant, raised the economy of Tuva. Now I am retired, I live alone, I am already 79 years old. My pension is not enough, I run a subsidiary farm .

I am forced to write you a letter because there is no one else to turn to: no one wants to protect us Russians here. So, on November 15, 2004, my house was attacked by a group of teenagers of Tuvan nationality. It’s good that my neighbors helped me, otherwise they would have killed me, like they killed the mother and son on Gornaya Street. When the police were called, the local police officer suggested that I sell everything I had and leave Tuva.

I’m scared to see what’s going on in our village: the police are inactive, the prosecutor’s office doesn’t give a damn about us either, it’s impossible to go out in the evening, drunken groups, stoned on hashish, walk everywhere, they start demanding to smoke first, then if you don’t give us money, they can mutilate us. The police will keep them for a day, and everything starts all over again. Our children go to school in a town 3 km across the mountain. On this mountain they are met by crowds, beaten and taken away everything they can."
Actions of human rights defenders

In those years, anti-fascist liberal democrats, including Galina Starovoitova, did not consider it necessary to fight the fascism of small nations. Starovoitova, at that time being the “state adviser of the Russian Federation on interethnic relations”, preferred to fight “Russian chauvinism”, when there were no traces of any Russian skinheads in Russia and the ex-USSR, but the future “victims of Russian fascism” were fighting with might and main Russians - from Chisinau to Kyzyl (the capital of Tuva). And not only were they beaten, but sometimes they were kicked out of their apartments, and sometimes even killed.

Both Tuvan human rights activists and the Tuvan “national intelligentsia” did not consider it necessary to fight Tuvan xenophobia, and the Tuvan government did not persecute the pogromists.

Currently, the attitude of self-proclaimed human rights activists to the problems of persecution of ethnic Russians in Tuva has not changed. The problem is completely ignored, and instead the myth of Russian fascism is being inflated. So, for example, the senator from Tuva, chairman of the Federation Council commission on information policy, Lyudmila Borisovna Narusova, being familiar with the situation of Russians in her federal district, still believes that the slogan “Russia for Russians!” “It’s not just unconstitutional, it’s criminal and leads to the collapse of our Russia”

Earlier this month, a representative of the rapidly thinning Russian community of Tuva - the Union of Russian-Speaking Citizens, member of the local parliament Viktor Molin, wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Senator Lyudmila Narusova. The leader of the state understands why, the second - because, in his words, he “keeps his word”; in addition, according to his information, he is the godfather of the leader of the country. This means that if officials from the presidential circle do not convey the contents of the letter to Putin, then she certainly will.

It sounds naive, of course, but what to do - the Russians of this nominal Russian territory have no one to count on. And they may not have heard much about Narusova’s Russophobic passages. But at the same time they really want Moscow to finally learn about their problems.

Hooliganism escalated into pogroms

“In the last decade, in the republic, due to the specific personnel policy of the Tuvan authorities in the field of public administration, a deliberate artificial process of replacing Russian personnel with persons of the titular nation has been taking place,” writes Molin. - Sholban Kara-Ool (head of the republic - Tsargrad’s note), not trusting the Russians, relies exclusively on Tuvan personnel, mostly from among relatives and friends, in his activities. As a result of this, a clear imbalance has developed in the power elite of Tuva, creating discomfort for Russian-speaking citizens living in the republic.”

Head of the Republic of Tuva Sholban Kara-ool. Photo: Vladimir Gerdo/TASS

“... After the republican State Tax Service was headed by the protege of the Tuvan government V. Suge-Maadyr, the pressure on non-indigenous entrepreneurs who were forced to curtail their business in Tuva and move beyond the Sayan Mountains sharply increased. Left without work, enterprise employees are also forced to make a decision to change their place of residence and settlement in Russian regions and territories of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, Russian families - children and parents - are leaving with them. Currently, the leading Russian entrepreneurs of Tuva, Gavrilov, Gavrilenko, Safrin, Kashnikova, Mikava and others, are under tax pressure. Many abandoned their business in Tuva and left... We ask you to instruct the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation to conduct a check of the indicated facts on squeezing Russian citizens out of Tuva by putting pressure on businessmen by the tax service and evicting veterans of the Russian Defense Ministry from service apartments...”

National tensions, turning into clashes and pogroms, began in Tuva, as throughout the country, at the turn of the eighties and nineties. As if on command. There is a verbal altercation, there is a fight. And then blood was shed...

Even when there were certain acts of youth that could be called nationalistic, we only called them hooliganism,”

The first secretary of the Tuvan regional committee of the Komsomol, Vladimir Kochergin, subsequently wrote.

Recently, victims at the hands of extremist-minded youth are increasingly being admitted to the hospital,” a local doctor Kanunnikov echoed him from the pages of Tuvinskaya Pravda. “I lived in Tuva for thirty-three years and did not notice when the sprouts of manifestations of nationalism first appeared... The increasing frequency of brutal beatings in unprovoked fights, knife wounds with which young people are admitted to the hospital...”

In 1990, massacres began between Russians and Tuvans in the village of Khovu Aksy, built near the Tuvakobalt plant. As a result, one and a half thousand Russians leave the settlement. The “winners” celebrate Victoria, but a year later the enterprise is closed for some reason, never to be revived...

In villages, Russian houses are being thrown with stones and Molotov cocktails. And then, that same year, the bodies of four Russian fishermen are found on Lake Sut-Khol, one of whom was only fourteen years old. The funeral of the murdered people results in a Russian demonstration of two thousand people in the capital Kyzyl, the authorities promise to look into it, but in the end, as expected, they come to the conclusion that although the victims were Russians and their killers were Tuvans, the two groups did not know each other before the crime was committed, and There was only a “domestic conflict” on the lake.

Suburb. Kyzyl. Photo: SergejStep / Shutterstock.com

After which the republic, along with many other national regions of Russia, entered the era of sovereignty, first renaming itself from Tuva to “Tuva”. And then, having written down in the newly-made constitution its “independent statist” status with the right to secede from the Russian Federation (this provision will be removed only in 2001).

Following this, mass dismissals of Russians began from the republican government apparatus and law enforcement agencies. However, the Russian head of the republican KGB will leave on his own even before all these events reach their culmination, and his place will quite expectedly be taken by a Tuvan. The Tuvan national “renaissance” was accompanied by Russian pogroms; local nationalist organizations created in the wake of perestroika, together with national organizations of homeless people and prisoners, began to attack Russian families, taking away their housing. At the same time, on the “southern front,” the Tuvans waged a war with the Mongols - the border with the neighboring country in Soviet times was rather arbitrary, not suiting either side (as well as China, which to this day considers Tuva its territory), therefore the Mongolian and Tuvan The villagers fought each other in hand-to-hand and knife fights. It even got to the point of shootings and hostage-taking.

The night is dangerous for Russians

“Nobody wants to protect us Russians here,” Nikolai Ilyin, a 70-year-old resident of the village of Sailyg, wrote back in 2004 in the only Russian newspaper of Tuva “Risk”. - So, on November 15, 2004, my house was attacked by a group of teenagers of Tuvan nationality. It’s good that my neighbors helped me, otherwise they would have killed me, like they killed the mother and son on Gornaya Street. When the police were called, the local police officer suggested that I sell everything I have and leave Tuva... I’m scared to see what’s going on in our village: the police are inactive, the prosecutor’s office doesn’t care about us either, it’s impossible to go out in the evening, people walk everywhere drunken groups, stoned on hashish, begin to demand first to smoke, then money, if you don’t give it, they can mutilate you. The police will keep them for a day, and everything starts all over again. Our children go to school in a town 3 km across the mountain. Crowds meet them on this mountain, beat them and take away everything they can.”

Five years later - in 2009 - the situation has changed little.

Children in Russian national costumes. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

“Ethnic Russians living in Tyva are afraid to leave their houses in the evenings,” the Russian Observer wrote that year. - Russian business travelers arriving in the republic are immediately warned: “Don’t go outside after dinner.” From time to time in Tyva, “unknown attackers” carry out demonstrative acts of intimidation against Russians. According to a journalist from one of the capital’s publications, a couple of days before his arrival, a group of Tuvan youth shouted “death to the Russians!” attacked a Russian couple leaving a bowling alley in Kyzyl. The husband was beaten to death, the wife escaped with broken bones. The criminals did not take any money or valuables. On the fence of the Orthodox church under construction in the capital of the republic, inscriptions constantly appear: “Russians, get out!” During the presidential elections, leaflets were distributed throughout Tyva: “Russians are our enemies.”

The same publication quotes the following words from the capital’s religious scholar Roman Silantiev, who returned from a business trip to the troubled region: “The outflow of the Russian-speaking population from the republic continues, and it cannot be explained only by economic reasons,” the expert said. - The crime rate in Tyva is simply off the charts, and Russian-speaking people, even in the capital, are not recommended to leave their houses after sunset. In the last three years alone, two employees of the Holy Trinity Church in Kyzyl were killed by bandits and another was severely beaten.”

Today, nine years later, in a conversation with Tsargrad, Roman Silantiev is no longer so categorical:

“Yes, Russians are leaving, but here, rather, there are economic and social reasons, there is simply no work there. There was a big construction project, a railway was being built, but then due to the construction of the Crimean Bridge it was frozen, after which there was an outflow of the population. There is practically no industry in the republic. Plus, Tuvans are quite violent when drunk, which is why domestic murders occur quite often there. Statistics on murders in Tuva are the highest in Russia. That is, it’s not even a matter of nationalism there, they kill their own people quite often, and it’s simply uncomfortable to live in the region.”

Orthodox church. in Kyzyl. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

However, the author of the letter and leader of the Russian-speaking residents of Tuva, Viktor Molin, absolutely disagrees with such a statement, who is convinced that Tuvan nationalism and Russophobia still continue to rule the roost in his native land. But this process took on slightly different, hidden forms.

“Since 1991, I stopped going out into the streets in the evenings, and I still don’t go out, and all of us, Russians, have several barrels of legally registered weapons, we can defend our houses, if anything,” says the social activist. - What about young people? So she leaves. I was born and raised here, my grandmother was born here in 1906, those who came from beyond the Sayans went back in 1991, but we have nowhere to run. All ancestors are buried here. While we are here, we are indignant in response to when they create outright chaos, and when we are not there, they will do whatever they please. There are already much fewer of us than representatives of the Kyrgyz diaspora, no more than 7 percent. Kara-Ool has relatives, classmates, and godfathers in all key positions.”

Need to figure it out

Molin also says with indignation that the current head of Tuva at one time made Kaadyr-Ool Biheldey the leader of the rally passions of the 90s, in the wake of which there were pogroms and “squeezing” of apartments from Russians, as his deputy. The very fact that at the beginning of the 2000s, as the Minister of Education of the republic, he did everything so that local schoolchildren learned Russian, as if it were not their native language, according to an abbreviated program - there is such a flawed plan in the domestic educational system.

The people were indignant, saying how could he appoint such a separatist as his deputy! - Molin is indignant. “After he embezzled forty million from the construction of children’s playgrounds, he was convicted and given three years’ probation. Now he works as the director of a large museum. And recently received a state award. We have such a situation that sometimes you just don’t understand what’s in the minds of those people who are now at the helm.”

Indeed, sometimes the reality of Tuva cannot be understood with the mind. So, in 2016, the 55th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Russian army was relocated here. Now it is almost entirely staffed by Tuvans. That is, a region with obvious separatist tendencies received, in fact, its own mono-ethnic military formation.

“In principle, I am against the creation of mono-ethnic military units,” Rostislav Antonov, a Siberian and chairman of the board of the Civil Patrol Foundation, commented on the situation to Tsargrad. - And it should be noted that there have already been incidents between the Russian military and the Tuvan military. For example, last year, when a stabbing occurred in a military unit in the Urals between 60 Tuvan contract soldiers and a hundred Russian soldiers (the formal reason for the massacre was an officer’s remark to a Tuvan contract soldier who had carelessly made his bed - Tsargrad’s note), during which twelve people were injured. This is an alarming fact. “I have serious doubts about the controllability and combat effectiveness of such units.”

Monument "Center of Asia" in Kyzyl. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Antonov is also confident that Molina’s letter to the central authorities should be taken seriously.

The situation in the Republic of Tuva is discussed regularly, but not out loud, since this topic is quite acute and painful: it concerns interethnic relations, the social activist said. - I am inclined to believe that the facts contained in the address of the head of the local Russian community contain a lot of objective information. This is not just an emotional cry from the soul, but a message to the state, and we need to hear it and take measures so that the situation in the North Caucasus does not repeat in Tuva - a region that the Russians, in fact, abandoned, which led to the problem of maintaining stability in this part of the Russian Federation. Federation. Yes, the state should respond to this call, but not in terms of carrying out checks on the activist himself, but investigating what is happening with Russians in the region, whether there are violations of the rights of citizens based on nationality and ethnic bias in recruitment to the civil service.”

Russian social activists in Tuva say that there is. For example, they say that Russian doctors are being fired in order to “clear the way for national personnel.” Or, when choosing whether to hire a Russian or a Tuvan for a particular position, employers will choose the latter. All these statements require careful verification.

After all, Tuva today is an almost 100% subsidized region from the federal budget. It is absurd to spend funds earned by Russian taxpayers on Russophobia. It’s absurd if anyone doesn’t understand, if only because Tuva is also Russia.