Overcoming Subaltern Silences: The Forgotten Buryat Soldiers of the Korean War
Journal: The Russian Review
Year: 2025

Abstract This article reassesses Soviet warfare practices by examining the use of non‐Slavic soldiers from Siberian ethnic minorities during the Korean War (1950–53). These soldiers, including Koreans, Buryats, Sakha Yakuts, and Tuvans, were deployed by the Soviet military in an elaborate deception scheme aimed at reinforcing Chinese units fighting on the North Korean side. Their use demonstrates how race and ethnicity became useful resources for Soviet political warfare. This interaction betwee