How to Use the U.N.

The NGO "Arctida" and the investigative outlet The Insider say Russian state agencies, former security officials, and experts linked to natural resource mining and extraction companies are pushing independent Indigenous representatives out of U.N. forums.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while Moscow was being banned and excluded from other international bodies, it still had a voice on U.N. platforms on Indigenous issues. 

According to Arctida and The Insider, Russia’s position on Indigenous issues abroad is largely shaped by the Federalnoye agentstvo po delam natsionalnostey (the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs,) or FADN. Its officials lead Russian delegations to the Permanent Forum, help prepare "international representatives" of Indigenous peoples, and distribute federal grants to nonprofits working in the field.

FADN has been led since its creation by Igor Barinov, a former FSB career officer. Before entering government, Barinov served in a regional Alfa special forces unit in the Sverdlovsk Oblast and took part in operations in North Ossetia and Chechnya.

Arctida and The Insider identified at least 13 FADN officials whose careers were linked at various times to the FSB, the GRU, the FSO, the Interior Ministry or the Defense Ministry, and who now represent Russia at major international forums on Indigenous rights. Barinov, a former FSB officer, regularly leads Russia’s delegation to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. For instance, at the forum’s 25th session in May, he said Western sanctions against Russia were harming Indigenous communities.

But state agencies are not the only actors shaping who speaks for Russia’s Indigenous peoples abroad. Participation in U.N. Indigenous mechanisms follows two tracks. Governments send official delegations and nominate some experts, and a separate civil society track allows Indigenous organizations to nominate representatives directly. Those representatives are supposed to be independent of governments and corporations so they can challenge official state positions when needed.

One of the most prominent Russian civil society experts has been Alexey Tsykarev, a human rights expert from Karelia. He served on the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples from 2013 to 2019, including as vice chair and chair. In 2020, he became an independent expert on the Permanent Forum for Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia.

According to Arctida and The Insider, Tsykarev has close ties to Norilsk Nickel, one of Russia’s largest mining companies. He helped develop the company’s policy on engagement with Indigenous peoples. Norilsk Nickel is also the general sponsor of a public diplomacy school for young Indigenous leaders, a joint project of FADN. Tsykarev is the school’s program director.

He is also linked to KMNSOYUZ, an interregional Indigenous organization led by Antonina Gorbunova, who succeeded him on the U.N. Expert Mechanism. According to financial records obtained by Arctida, KMNSOYUZ received R91.8 million (about $1.2 million), from Norilsk Nickel in 2021-2025, accounting for about 63% of its budget. Arctida says one-fifth of KMNSOYUZ’s spending ultimately went to accounts held by Tsykarev.

In his U.N. work, Tsykarev has presented Norilsk Nickel as an example of best practices in Indigenous engagement.

The rise of Russian representatives tied to security agencies and extractive companies comes amid renewed pressure on independent Indigenous activists. In December 2025, Russian authorities arrested Daria Egereva, a Selkup rights defender and climate activist who had long represented Russia’s Indigenous peoples at U.N. forums.

The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change elected Egereva co-chair, a role in which she helped lead Indigenous participation at COP30 in Brazil. Less than a month after the conference, she was arrested on charges of involvement in a "terrorist organization." The designation targeted Aborigen Forum, an expert network that included a center Egereva had previously represented.

Her lawyer, Olga Podoplelova, called the case a “legal absurdity,” saying Aborigen Forum conducted peaceful research and advocacy and had dissolved before it was labeled terrorist.

Podoplelova said the prosecution fits a broader policy of replacing independent voices with state-controlled structures. Activist Pavel Sulyandziga said Egereva had been Russia’s leading candidate for the steering committee of the new Cali Fund, a biodiversity finance mechanism launched in February 2025. Instead, the seat went to Tsykarev.