The New York Times reports that as the Russian government has imposed partial mobilization orders for the war in Ukraine, conscripts are being drawn to powerless minorities.
In order not to be dragged to the battlefield, some minority groups are protesting, such as fleeing to neighboring border countries such as Kazakhstan or holding protests on the streets.
According to a minority human rights group operating in Ukraine, 46 out of 48 people who were recently notified of enlistment in a region of Crimea annexed from Ukraine to Russia in 2014 were Tatars, a minority ethnic group.
The New York Times reported that Tatars are being mobilized in the military at a higher rate than other ethnic groups in other regions of the Crimea as well.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also slammed the recruitment of the Tatars, saying Russia is "implementing an imperialist policy to exterminate indigenous peoples."
In places such as Russia's Dagestan Autonomous Republic where Muslim minorities live, some residents are protesting that they are the main targets of discriminatory recruitment.
(Photo = EPA, Yonhap News)