In the four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, New Tuva has helped as many as 400 draft-eligible Tyvans escape death on the front lines.
Working with lawyers, the Indigenous anti-war group from Russia took on even seemingly impossible cases, like helping two young conscripts desert from Russia’s frontline positions in July 2022.
“Later, other anti-war organizations began using the safe route we had developed. To us, this was proof that even a small civic group can actually save people’s lives,” a volunteer for New Tuva told The Moscow Times.
New Tuva is one of several dozen grassroots anti-war movements established by the Russian diaspora and recent exiles in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But while these groups were energized by a sense of urgency at the war’s outset, a litany of challenges has taken its toll over the past four years.
