The people with the reddest hair in the world
Russia is home to people from at least 190 ethnic groups and counts more than 20 different republics within its borders. With Moscow seemingly pursuing an aggressively nationalistic agenda, I wondered what life is like for ethnic minorities there.
The Udmurts are said to possess the reddest hair in the world.
The Tatars and Bashkirs descend from the Golden Horde.
The Mari worship animist spirits amid their sacred forest groves.
The connection between these different ethnicities is that they all have their own republics inside the Russian Federation.
I travelled 500 miles (750km) east of Moscow to the Middle Volga lowlands, where six of these republics cluster together to see how they are run.
They have their own parliaments to deal with local issues but their governors are appointed by Russia's president to ensure they're subordinate to Moscow in national matters.
None of the republics I visit - Chuvashia,
