As Kremlin Boasts of Arctic Riches, Indigenous Peoples Struggle to Survive

cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/43276565

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As Indigenous communities struggle to survive, their lands play a growing role in global geopolitics.

Russia, which controls more than half of the Arctic Ocean’s coastline, is courting partners from Washington to Beijing to develop new shipping routes and mine critical minerals as the region warms.

The choice of Alaska as the site of last month’s historic meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin further highlighted the region’s strategic importance.

But these geopolitical dynamics rarely acknowledge the realities of local life.

“The entire territory of the Russian Arctic is Indigenous land,” said Lana Pylaeva, an Indigenous rights adviser at Arctida, an NGO producing analysis and investigations on the Russian Arctic.

“Russia’s state narrative still talks about ‘exploration’ of the Arctic … [as if it were] a no man’s land that needs to be developed — often using outright barbaric methods,” Pylaeva [says].

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