Residents of Kabardino-Balkaria celebrate the 82nd anniversary of the deportation.

Today, Kabardino-Balkaria marks the 82nd anniversary of Stalin's deportation of the Balkar people to Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," Kabardino-Balkaria annually commemorates the deportation of the Balkar people on March 8th. In 2025, a memorial service was held in Nalchik on this day, and in 2024, on the 80th anniversary of the deportation, a renovated exhibition of archival documents and personal belongings of the repressed opened.

Today, Kabardino-Balkaria marks the 82nd anniversary of the deportation of the Balkar people. On this occasion, the head of the republic, Kazbek Kokov, addressed his fellow countrymen today on his Telegram channel.

"82 years separate us from that tragic day when the Balkar people were unjustly accused and illegally deported to Central Asia and Kazakhstan. No matter how much time has passed, the pain of this tragedy does not subside in our hearts. We sacredly honor the memory of the victims of tyranny and lawlessness," he wrote.

As of 10:00 Moscow time, not a single comment had been posted under the post, made at 8:03 Moscow time, although the comment feature was enabled. Kokov's address, however, has garnered over 5,200 views and over 70 positive reactions from users.

As a reminder, on March 8th in Kabardino-Balkaria, it is customary to visit the graves of relatives who survived deportation, and elders tell the younger generation about their experiences during the exile, residents of the republic told the "Caucasian Knot" in March 2024.

The deportation of the Balkars was one episode in the repression of the peoples of the Caucasus

The consequences of the deportation still affect the lives of the Balkars, and rehabilitation cannot be considered complete, activists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" stated in 2024. In their opinion, the number of informal events marking the anniversary of the deportation has decreased in recent years; people prefer to remember the dead within the family circle.

Under Stalin, mass arrests, deportations, and executions were carried out based on ethnicity, and entire peoples were declared "hostile," according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "10 Myths About Stalin's Role in the Great Patriotic War."

Natives of the Caucasus took an active part in the Great Patriotic War, and myths about their mass desertion and collaboration are based on data intended to justify repressions against the peoples of the Caucasus, historians Alexei Bezugolny, Nikolai Bugai, and Evgeny Krinko stated in 2015.

According to their research, in 1941-1942, a number of secret decrees and orders were issued restricting the conscription and service in the army of a significant number of peoples of the USSR, including some peoples of the South Caucasus and all North Caucasian peoples.

The decision on which peoples to repress depended directly on Stalin, historian and member of the Association of Researchers of Russian Society Boris Sokolov told the "Caucasian Knot" in 2022.

In February 2024, Nalchik resident Oleg Kelemetov filed a complaint with the Investigative Committee, demanding an investigation into the decisions of the USSR State Defense Committee (GKO) on the deportation of the peoples of the Caucasus. Kelemetov believes that the State Defense Committee's decisions to deport peoples violated the Constitution and the Criminal Code of the USSR. In May of that year, Kelemetov, on behalf of a group of North Caucasus residents, sent appeals to the parliaments of the North Caucasus republics calling for a ban on the glorification of Stalin and other perpetrators of mass deportations.

Such initiatives are important, but in today's Russian reality, historians interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" noted that they could result in repression against their authors.