Ukrainian efforts to woo support from Russia’s ethnic peoples and stir them against Moscow have divided the sizable Circassian community in Turkey, where many see the moves as a Western-backed attempt to “open a new front” on Russia. 

While the International Circassian Association, based in Russia’s mainly Muslim North Caucasian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, has acted as a mouthpiece of the Kremlin, some Circassian exiles appear willing to support Ukraine, despite the danger.

Following its invasion by Russia, Ukraine easily secured support from pro-independence Chechens, who fought Russia in the 1990s and early 2000s. Several Chechen units have been fighting for Ukraine, including a battalion announced in May by Akhmed Zakayev, the head of a Chechen government-in-exile, while Ramzan Kadyrov, the Moscow loyalist heading the Chechen Republic, has contributed troops to back the Russian invasion. 

Enlisting Circassian support, however, has proved more difficult. Russia’s Circassians are concentrated in the Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia republics, while a much larger Circassian population lives outside Russia — the legacy of mass expulsions of Circassians from their Caucasian homeland in the 19th century, when they last fought the Russians.