‘We will not survive’: jailing of Daria Egereva highlights plight of Russia’s Indigenous people

Russian authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on Indigenous rights activists, highlighted by the arrest and ongoing detention of Daria Egereva, a prominent advocate from the Selkup Indigenous group in western Siberia. In a coordinated operation across Russia’s 11 time zones, the federal security service (FSB) raided the homes and workplaces of 17 activists, confiscating devices and interrogating them about their involvement in international forums. While most were released or fled the country, Egereva remains jailed on charges of membership in a terror group, which her supporters say are baseless and politically motivated. Egereva was a leading figure in Russia’s Indigenous rights movement and held a significant role internationally as co-chair of the Indigenous People’s Forum on Climate Change at COP30 in Brazil just weeks before her arrest. Her detention has drawn attention to the severe challenges facing Indigenous communities in Russia, who are grappling with the combined threats of authoritarian repression, environmental degradation, and climate change. Experts note that these communities are among the most vulnerable to the rapid warming of the Arctic, where temperatures are rising three to four times faster than the global average, causing permafrost to thaw and destabilizing traditional ways of life. The melting permafrost is causing riverbanks and lakeshores to erode, threatening the physical survival of many Indigenous settlements. This environmental crisis is compounded by increased industrial activity, as the retreating ice has opened access to vast mineral resources—including gold, diamonds, oil, gas, and coal—located beneath Indigenous lands. While these resources are valuable to the Russian state and corporations, Indigenous leaders describe them as a curse, as extraction projects disrupt their territories, culture, and livelihoods. The crackdown on activists like Egereva reflects the broader struggle of Indigenous peoples in Russia to defend their rights and environment amid growing political repression and ecological crisis.