After more than 20 years of active engagement in Indigenous issues, RAIPON, the umbrella organization of the Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East, was ordered to suspend its activities by the Russian Ministry of Justice in November 2012. Eventually, this order was withdrawn provided that RAIPON changed its statute, which subsequently took place in early 2013. Why such sudden and definitive decisions? Apparently, the measures taken against RAIPON were due to its active engagement to defend Indigenous peoples' rights especially vis-à-vis the Russian extractive industry. A starting point for all possible explanations is thus the existing gap between the legal protection of Indigenous peoples' and its enforcement. The aims of this article are thus to gain a deeper understanding of the legal protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights in the Russian Federation, and to explore the interests and the politics lying behind the government attitude vis-à-vis Indigenous peoples.