‘An irreparable loss’ One of the few

remaining members of Russia’s indigenous

Kerek people was killed fighting in Ukraine

 December 11, 2024
Source: Govorit NeMoskva

Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has taken an outsize toll on Russia’s indigenous people, who account for a disproportionate number of combat deaths. This week, a social media page that tracks individual deaths in the war posted about the death of a member of the Kerek, an indigenous group from eastern Siberia with only about 20 remaining members. Here’s what we know.

Ivan Taimagyr, a Russian soldier and one of about 20 remaining members of the indigenous Kerek people from northeastern Siberia, was reportedly killed in September while fighting in the war against Ukraine. He was 55 years old.

Taimagyr’s death was reported by a page on the Russian social media site Vkontakte called “Died in the Special Military Operation.”

“This is an irreparable loss for Russia's cultural heritage,” reads the post about Taimagyr’s death:

On September 13, 2024, Ivan Lymneyevich Taimagyr, a member of the Kerek people, tragically lost his life in combat in the Kursk region, where he served in the 810th Separate Marine Brigade. His life ended in its 56th year, leaving not only the sorrow of his passing but also the realization that with his death, the story of a member of an endangered people has come to an end.

Olga Romanova, the head of the prisoners' rights group Russia Behind Bars, wrote on Telegram that Taimagyr may have died during one of Russia’s so-called “meatgrinder assaults.”

The outlet iStories notes that Russia’s 2010 census identified Kereks as the smallest officially recognized ethnic group in Russia, recording only four individuals. The 2021 census reported an increasing, recording 23 people.

Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, journalists from the BBC and Mediazona have worked with volunteers to identify the names of Russian military personnel killed in combat. U.S.-based researcher Maria Vyushkova, who uses open-source information to track the ethnicity of soldiers whose deaths have been confirmed, has found that minority ethnic groups are greatly overrepresented among Russia’s casualties. In February 2024, she reported that ethnic Russians had made up slightly more than 70 percent of military deaths, despite accounting for over 80 percent of the country’s overall population.