Protests in Russia’s Altai Region are part of a long history of resistance against Moscow’s oppression

The recent unrest in Altai is not random. It is a flare from the long-smoldering embers of resistance—a reminder that the Russian state is built atop the crushed bones of smaller nations, each promised modernization, only to receive militarization and silence in return.

From the Caucasus to Ukraine, and from Siberia to the Baltics, the pattern repeats: seize territory, erase culture, call it unity.

A brief history lesson…

In the remote mountains of southern Siberia, the Altai people once lived in deep harmony with their land, guided by centuries-old traditions, shamanism, and later, Tibetan Buddhism. Their resistance to Soviet rule was not merely a reaction to politics—it was the culmination of centuries of struggle to preserve their identity in the face of imperial conquest, cultural suppression, and violent transformation.

The Altai people, a Turkic-speaking indigenous group, were gradually absorbed into the Russian Empire in the 18th century under Peter the Great. Russian settlers, missionaries, and administrators began to move into Altai lands, establishing mining colonies and Orthodox missions. The empire classified the Altai as inorodtsy (“aliens”), marginalizing them both legally and economically.

Revolution Brings No Freedom

When the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917, the Altai people hoped for liberation. Instead, Bolshevik rule brought new forms of subjugation. Moscow confiscated livestock, outlawed religious practices, and destroyed sacred sites. Soviet commissars imposed collectivization and mandatory conscription. Under the guise of progress, Altai life was dismantled piece by piece.

As the Russian Civil War unfolded, Altai became a battleground for rival armies—both Red and White. Neither represented the interests of the local people. Both seized grain, drafted young men, and left devastation behind. The Altai people didn’t rise up in the name of Marx or monarchy. They rose because they were being crushed—again—by outsiders who claimed to govern them.

By 1918, discontent among the rural population had exploded into armed defiance. Peasants, including both indigenous communities and Russian settlers, rose up against Bolshevik authority. With few weapons and little coordination, they turned to guerrilla tactics, ambushing Soviet units and using their intimate knowledge of the terrain to their advantage.

These were not top-down political rebellions but spontaneous grassroots uprisings, driven by hunger, anger, and a sense of betrayal.

1920s: Era of Uprisings

Between 1920 and 1921, western Siberia erupted in one of the largest peasant uprisings in Soviet history—the West Siberian Peasant Rebellion.

Stretching across Altai, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and parts of Omsk, the revolt involved over 100,000 participants. Altai became one of its most determined centers of resistance.

In early 1921, the Sorokino Uprising broke out in what is now Altai Krai. Led by local leaders and former Imperial officers, rebel detachments seized villages, disarmed Red Army units, and declared their intention to end forced food seizures and conscription. Their demands were clear: local self-rule, food security, and an end to Bolshevik terror.

Just weeks later, the Slavgorod-Chernodol Uprising followed, spreading through Altai Krai and neighboring regions. Tens of thousands of peasants took up arms, forming partisan groups that targeted Soviet supply lines and institutions. Though poorly armed, these rebels had the support of the local population and the shelter of their homeland’s forests and mountains. They were not fighting to seize state power—they were fighting to survive.

Brutal Repression and Historical Amnesia

Moscow’s response was annihilation. The Red Army and Cheka agents unleashed a campaign of terror:

• Villages were burned.
• Families were executed or deported without trial.
• Temples were destroyed.

• Religious leaders were hanged in public squares.

• Survivors were forced into collective farms.

• Nomadic traditions were outlawed.

Russian archives referred to the campaign as “pacification,” but in reality, it was a reign of terror.

Though the Soviet state claimed victory by the end of 1921, resistance persisted into the mid-1920s. But Stalin’s later purges and Russification policies sealed the fate of Altai culture. The rebellions were erased from textbooks. Their leaders labeled “bandits” or “kulaks.” The region was forcibly integrated into the machinery of the Soviet state.

The Stalinist collectivization of the 1930s delivered the final blow: forced sedentarization, destruction of cultural institutions, and Russification of schools and media erased much of what remained of traditional Altai life.

Even the West Siberian Rebellion, which stands as one of the largest in Soviet history, remains largely absent from national textbooks.

Today, historians and cultural revivalists in the Altai Republic and Altai Krai are working to preserve the memory of this resistance.

Today: Anger Returns

In 1991, the Altai Republic was formed as a nominally autonomous region within the Russian Federation. Altai remains one of Russia’s poorest regions. Corruption is rampant, youth unemployment is high, and promises from Moscow remain empty.

Indigenous traditions are undergoing a fragile revival, but most public life is dominated by Russian language, Russian institutions, and Russian political control.

The Altai people have survived empire, revolution, and repression. What they are now facing is not new. It is simply Russia, doing what it has always done.