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legislation states that members of an NGO labeled ‘undesirable’ may be subject to fines and jail time
(Tétrault-Farber 2015).
These changes have impacted the ability of indigenous organizations such as RAIPON and affiliated
organizations in Chukotka such as YESC to operate and to engage with indigenous organizations
outside Russia. In 2012 the Russian Ministry of Justice found “irregularities in [RAIPON’s]
organizational statutes” and forced RAIPON to cease operations (Staaleser 2013). Both organizations
were accused of failing to abide by the aforementioned legislation requiring NGOs to register with
the state and secure themselves as ‘legal entities’ while obtaining funding from outside of Russia. As
well, the suspensions of both organizations lasted about a year before the state determined the
appropriate paperwork was submitted and they could return to their business. In 2014, an indigenous
hunter’s association in Chukotka was asked to voluntarily register as a foreign agent because the
association was using joint American and Russian funding to study walruses. Although the
organization was not involved in political activities, the leader was a candidate for a seat in local
government, which clearly constituted a political activity to the authorities (International Work Group
for Indigenous Affairs 2014a). The association refused, but the authorities made it clear that they
would be harassed, and in the end will be forced to register as a foreign agent.
International collaboration
The geographical proximity of Chukotka to the United States (Alaska) and Canada, coupled with
historical connections between the indigenous peoples of this part of the circumpolar north has
facilitated international collaboration since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In particular, the
representatives from YESC have become actively involved in the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), a
transnational organization representing Inuit peoples in four different countries. During the socioeconomic crisis in the early to mid-1990s, the ICC worked with the Canadian government and other
organizations to deliver humanitarian aid to the indigenous peoples of Chukotka and the Russian
north (Wilson 2007). Additionally, a number of bilateral projects dedicated to wildlife management,
cultural preservation and environmental protection were initiated between Alaska and Chukotka
including the Chukotka Walrus Harvest Monitoring Project and the joint US/Russia Polar Bear
Commission (Diatchkova 2010). Such examples of collaboration between the indigenous peoples of
Russia and other regions in the circumpolar north are important because they open the region and its
inhabitants up to the outside world after decades of isolation during the Soviet period, thereby
allowing for the sharing of best practices and new ideas. The Inuit peoples of Alaska, Canada and
Greenland, for example, have made great strides over the last several decades in their quest for political
and economic autonomy. Their progress provides a benchmark for other indigenous peoples, not
only in Russia, but also in other parts of the world.
Of course, there are many barriers to continued international collaboration on the part of Russian
indigenous peoples. In addition to the controls that the state places on non-governmental
organizations, indigenous groups that do engage actively in international collaboration are often very
small in numbers and have limited human and financial resources to draw on. Tatiana Achirgina, the
President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Chukotka, has commented that her organization simply
At the Margins