The War's Toll on the Young of the Tofalar People
In January 2026, two 18-year-old members of the Indigenous Tofalar people were buried in Siberia's Irkutsk region after dying in Ukraine. Both had signed contracts with Russia's Ministry of Defense despite pre-existing health conditions. The deaths of Andrei Kholiamoiev and Sergei Tokuev in the ongoing conflict highlight the precarious situation faced by this small ethnic group, which numbered just 719 people according to the 2021 census.
Circumstances of Their Deaths
Sergei Tokuev, born June 20, 2005, was killed on December 31 near Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast and buried in his home village of Alygdzher on January 27. He had suffered from a back injury and a hernia since childhood and had been granted a full military service exemption at age 17. Nevertheless, he signed a contract and was sent to the front. His body was returned home in a zinc coffin on a special flight nearly a month after his death.
Andrei Kholiamoiev, from the village of Verkhnyaya Gutara, signed his military contract in early September 2025, shortly after turning 18 on August 2. He was reported missing on September 21. Serving as a rifleman-sapper in an assault capture squad, his body was found only four months after his death. He was buried on January 8, 2026, after what acquaintances described as a prolonged and difficult search.
The Tofalar are a Turkic-speaking Indigenous people living in the central Eastern Sayan mountains of southern Siberia, within Irkutsk Oblast. They are officially listed among the Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the Russian North, Siberia, and the Far East. Their population decline is notable, falling from 762 people in the 2010 census to 719 in 2021. The ongoing war now presents an acute demographic threat to their community's survival.
Alygdzher village is connected to the town of Nizhneudinsk by a 202-kilometer winter road, with flights to Tofalaria averaging only once every two weeks. Local residents express deep concern that their already small community is losing its young men to the war.
"This is a tragedy for our people. There are fewer and fewer of us as it is," notes a hunter named Igor.
The Tofalar, like many other small Indigenous groups, face compounding challenges.
"Some were surprised that a sick boy was taken on contract, but I wasn't," shares Marina, a resident of Alygdzher.Such cases provoke outrage and anxiety among locals, who struggle to understand why young men with health problems go to the front. While financial hardship is a factor, other motivations remain unclear.
The deaths of these young Tofalar men illustrate the broader vulnerabilities of Russia's small Indigenous peoples during the conflict. The loss of youth threatens the future cultural and demographic stability of such communities. With an already critically low population, the participation of Tofalar in combat raises serious fears for the nation's future, demanding urgent attention from both the state and society.