amna: In the nearly two years
since Russia invaded Ukraine,
300,000 Russian soldiers have
died or been injured, many of
them conscripts.
And as Nick schifrin and
producer Sarah Cutler report,
for soldiers from siberia and
Russia's far east, which is home
to many ethnic minorities, the
price has been overwhelming.
Nick: In Russia's far east, the
funerals are all too common.
The widows are so distraught,
they have to be carried by an
honor guard.
And the cemeteries are filled
with soldiers, many of their
graves freshly dug.
Men from this part of Russia,
remote, poor, and home to many
of the country's mortar order
groups -- minority groups, have
borne the brunt of the war and
died disproportionately.
>> A lot of people have been
sent there.
It looks like Russia is trying
to eliminate our Russian groups.
Nick: 31-year-old Alex is from
an area the size of India, many
of whose one million residents
are ethnically turkic.
>> It seemed as though they were
officially mobilizing only our
ethnic peoples and sending them
to war as though they were
trying to kill some people.
Nick: His social media shows a
normal life.
A day on the job posing with a
new ride, spending time with
loved ones.
His world was lost when he was
suddenly conscripted last
September during a wave of
mobilization and flown from his
hometown to a military base a
few hours away.
He was shocked by what he saw.
>> Normally their informational
stains to show who is on duty
but this time there were only
photos of dead Ukrainian
soldiers and the inscription was
they should be killed.
In this way I believe they were
preparing us for what would
happen.
>> It is easier to take those
who know less.
Usually these are in remote
places.
Nick: Natalia is the founder and
president of the free Russia's
foundation.
They consider ethnic minorities
with lesser education cannon
fodder.
>> The less information they can
get, the less human rights
organizations are working with
them and advocating for their
rights.
Nick: Six of the 10 Russian
regions with the highest
mortality rates in Ukraine are
located in siberia and the far
east.
Here, they are 75 times more
likely to die than men from
Moscow.
>> When Putin's Russia attacked
Ukraine, it was definitely a
genocide of Ukrainians.
Simultaneously inside Russia
there is an ethanol side.
Nick: Minority recruitment is a
crescendo of decades of
discrimination.
>> It was impossible to learn my
own language in school.
I could afford to allow -- it
was very dangerous.
That is why I can relate to all
of these ethnic minority groups
saying it is not our war.
You are not treating us as
normal citizens of Russia.
We cannot even be safe in the
capital of our country.
Nick: A handful have risked
certain arrest to protest.
New advocacy groups are holding
men from community centers avoid
the draft board leave the
country.
>> Indigenous peoples are needed
for only one purpose, to die for
the sake of the empire.
Vladimir Putin has acted very
consistently in this regard.
Nick: The founder of the
foundation which receives daily
calls and texts from new
conscripts and their families.
>> Someone I know was mobilized
two weeks ago and tricked into
signing a contract for a year.
>> My son is writing a letter to
officials refusing to serve but
we are both afraid they will
deny them.
Nick: What will happen to
immobilized person on leave if
he does not return to Ukraine?
>> We explained to military
personnel how to terminate their
contracts.
We are doing what the Kremlin
considers most dangerous.
We explained to people what
their rights are.
One of the official reasons for
Russia's invasion of Ukraine,
the Kremlin cited the
denazification of Ukraine.
But we have repeatedly
encountered racism and
xenophobia in Russia itself.
Nick: This year Moscow
introduced new laws to expand
their pool of recruits, meeting
-- raising the maximum age and
more.
And the government launched a
campaign to try and convince
more Russians to sign up
including ads on TV that suggest
soldiers, not civilians, are
real men.
Moscow increased pay, often
appealing to Russian minorities.
As for Alex, days after he was
mobilized and arrived on base,
he crawled under a whole and a
fence and into a taxi.
He got on the first flight he
could to Kazakhstan, week --
where he still lives today.
He lives incognito with a
Russian criminal case for
desertion hanging over his head.
>> I don't do anything.
I don't have official employment
right now.
There are 17 people like me with
criminal cases opened.
All of us were just hoping some
countries would give us asylum.
Nick: Until then, he waits,
knowing he has at least avoided
the fate of so many fellow
minorities who fought in
Ukraine.
For the "Pbs newshour," I'm Nick