Ainu in Russia

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Ainu

Karafuto Ainu house, 1912
Total population
300 (official Russian Census 2021)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Sakhalin Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai and Kamchatka Krai
Languages
Russian, formerly Ainu languages (Kuril†, Sakhalin†)
Religion
Russian Orthodox and Shamanism (see Ainu mythology)
Related ethnic groups
Hokkaido Ainu, Kamchadals, Ryukyuans,[2] Jōmons

The Ainu in Russia are an Indigenous people of Siberia located in Sakhalin Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai and Kamchatka Krai. The Russian Ainu people (Aine; Russian: айны, romanized: Ayny), also called Kurile (курилы, kurily), Kamchatka's Kurile (камчатские курилы, kamchatskiye kurily / камчадальские айны, kamchadalskiye ayny) or Eine (эйны, eyny), can be subdivided into six groups.

Although only around 100 people currently identify themselves as Ainu in Russia (according to the census of 2010), it is believed that at least 1,000 people are of significant Ainu ancestry. The low numbers identifying as Ainu are a result of the refusal by the government of the Russian Federation to recognise the Ainu as a "living" ethnic group.^{[needs update]} Most of the people who identify themselves as Ainu live in Kamchatka Krai, although the largest number of people who are of Ainu ancestry (without acknowledging it) are found in Sakhalin Oblast. Many local people are ethnically Ainu or have significant Ainu ancestry but identify as Russian or Nivkh and speak Russian as mother tongue, often not knowing of their Ainu ancestry.^[3]