Is it true that the last representative of the Kereks, the indigenous people of Russia, died near Kursk?

In December 2024, a photo of the grave of Ivan Taymagyr, the last representative of the Kerek people who allegedly died in battles in the Kursk region, appeared in the media and social networks. We have verified the accuracy of this information.

Reports of the death of the last kerek began to spread on social networks on December 9. Hundreds of Telegram channels wrotethat Ivan Taymagyr died back in September in the Kursk region and with his death the personal history of a unique Paleo-Asian people on the verge of extinction ended. The story was picked up by publications such as “Gazeta.ru", "Radio Liberty", "Constantinople", "Evening Moscow"and also Ukrainian, Kazakh And independent Belarusian Media. Similar posts appeared on social networks “VKontakte", X And Facebook. Publicists shared a photo of Ivan Taymagyr’s grave in their channels and blogs Alexander Nevzorov And Dmitry Gordon, editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian publication “Censor.Net” Yuri Butusov, head of the Sitting Rus' Foundation Olga Romanova etc.

According to viral posts, Ivan Taymagyr, who served in the 810th separate marine brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, died on September 13, 2024 in the Kursk region. According to Telegram channels, he was the last representative of the Kerek people, living in Chukotka. According to the results of the 2010 population census, Kereks turned out to be one of the smallest peoples of Russia - only four people classified themselves as belonging to this ethnic group.

Authors of posts about Taymagyr's death clarifiedthat he was the last Kerek on the planet, his people were exterminated by the Russians, and he died for them. Many assumedthat the man could have died during the so-called meat assault. The 810th Separate Marine Brigade, in which Taymagyr allegedly served, actually takes part in battles in the Kursk region, where in August entered APU. Moreover, how found out publication “Verstka”, during the fighting in this Russian region, it was this unit that suffered the greatest losses. Journalists came to this conclusion after studying advertisements about missing soldiers in specialized groups on VKontakte from August to November 2024. According to the results of the investigation, mentions of the disappearance of soldiers of the 810th brigade were at least three times more frequent compared to other units of the Russian army. Of the more than 350 servicemen who disappeared near Kursk, whose personal data was confirmed, more than 70 served in the 810th brigade. In September 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin especially noted Marines from this unit, who showed themselves heroically in repelling an attempted invasion of the border areas of the Kursk region.

However, information about the death of Ivan Taymagyr is not true. A reverse search of the photo of the grave marker, which was usually attached to the viral news, showed that the man in the photo is Bair Chinavlev from Buryatia, who was mobilized in September 2022. In April 2024, according to the administration of the Bauntovsky Evenki district, he received Medal "For Military Distinction". At the same time, Ukrainian activists contributed serviceman to the Myrotvorets base. Chinavlev died in November 2024 in Donbass, as reported on December 4 reported authorities of the same Bauntovsky Evenki district. “Verified” could not find confirmation in open sources that the man was a Kerek and participated in battles in the Kursk region. Nevertheless, his photograph was used to create an image on the tombstone of Ivan Taymagyr, and the biography of the “last kerek” is most likely fictitious.

The first to publish false information in the group “Small Peoples of Russia” was a VKontakte user. Nadezhda Ivanovna December 8, 2024 at 17:42 Moscow time. At the time of writing this analysis, the account is blocked, but judging by the archived document made on December 10 copies, the user’s profile had only two entries, published in March and May of this year. On December 10, the capital of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Anadyr, was indicated as Nadezhda Ivanovna’s hometown, but in copies dated November 8, 2024 (then the user’s name was Nadya Mironova), Belgorod was listed in the same column. On December 9, a screenshot of Nadezhda Ivanovna’s post was published by a Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butusov, and already its publication in a channel with 375,000 subscribers served as the main source for the further spread of the fake.

Thus, the story of the death of a Kerek representative during the fighting in the Kursk region is not confirmed by any reliable sources. Most likely, the biography of this person was invented. And the photograph of his grave used as evidence was created using a graphic editor based on a photograph of a Buryat marine who died in the Donbass a few weeks earlier.

Cover photo: Telegram

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