Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 23.02.2021  

Today is the Day of the Defender of the Fatherland [in Russia]. A memorable day for all our multinational people, who defended our country shoulder to shoulder during the Second World War. I congratulate all those who today defend Russia from foes, diseases, poverty, arbitrariness and lawlessness. All those who love and care about our country.

But 23 February is also another memorable date. On 23 February, 1944, mass deportations of Chechens and Ingush began. 180 echelons, 100,000 servicemen were involved. In two weeks, over half a million people were deported to Central Asia and Siberia. During the deportations and in the first years after them, about 100,000 Chechens and 23,000 Ingush died, that is, every fourth representative of these peoples.

This terrible crime is not only against the Vainakh peoples [the Chechen and the Ingush]. This is a crime against every citizen of our country. And the future of modern multinational Russia depends on whether we can preserve the memory of these events, where not only the authorities are trying to play the “friend or foe” card, but also those seeking to get into power at any cost.

We must also remember the millions of deported representatives of other peoples of our country. In addition to Chechens and Ingush, the Crimean Tatars, Karachais, Balkars, Kalmyks, Germans, Koreans, Poles, Meskhetian Turks and Ingrian Finns were subjected to total deportation during the years of Soviet power. Cossacks, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians and other peoples were also the victims of ethnic deportations in the USSR. Forgetting the suffering of the deported peoples, we again doom them to exile.

May the memory of the victims and their suffering last forever!

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