The repressive machine is at work: what to expect from protests in Bashkiria

There were mass riots in Bashkiria after a local activist was sentenced for “inciting ethnic hatred.” Almost 10 thousand people took to the streets, among other things, they demanded that the men of the region return from the war in Ukraine and defend their people.

About these protests There is a lot of healthy skepticism; it is unlikely that they will become a trend in Russia. This opinion 24 Channel was expressed by the head of the Center for Public Analytics “Tower” Valery Klochok, adding that the reason for this is the strengthening of the National Guard and other military units.

Protests in Bashkiria are an exception rather than a trend

After the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin seriously aggravated the Russian Guard. This is a power unit with up to 300 thousand personnel. It includes trained military personnel who have the task of protecting the Kremlin regime from any attacks on its power.

The history in Bashkortostan is not indicative of the whole of Russia. This is an exception rather than a trend. The reason there is that the local population clearly understands the injustice reigning in Russia. This injustice is “muted down” by the Russian Guard, noted Klochok.

For the residents of Bashkortostan, the decision to sentence a local activist was enough. The fact that Moscow is encroaching on virtually any benefits that exist in a distant region, which is also quite poor, also played a role. Resources are “pumped out” from there, people even came to wash out gold.

These stories are unacceptable for the population, so it should not be ruled out that they will appear in other regions of Russia. Their origins may be different, but it is becoming obvious that the repressive machine is increasingly at work in Russia. “Russians can no longer ignore this,” Klochok emphasized.

Of course, this protest action was not the same as Euromaidan. From a Ukrainian point of view, this is a small mess, but for Russia it is very significant. The protests assured that there are those in the country who do not want to put up with the Putin regime and are even ready to go to a rally. However, the repressive machine shows that it can quickly localize everything. Security forces in Russia are now actively monitoring any dissatisfied people and detaining them.

It didn't start after the full scale invasion. Let us remember the murder of Nemtsov, the imprisonment of Navalny – these are vivid examples of which any “dissent” is powerfully persecuted. But the protest action was massive, it was attended by 10 thousand people from a city in which a total of 18 thousand live,” added Klochok.

So you need to watch what there will be more, but there is no need to talk about the tendentiousness of the protests. All again due to a powerful repressive machine.

Protests in Russia: what is happening

• Mass protests broke out in Bashkortostan on January 15. Then the protesters came out in defense of local activist Fail Alsinov, who is accused of allegedly “inciting ethnic hatred.” The media called these rallies the largest since the start of the full-scale invasion. Security forces units were immediately brought into the city and began to harshly detain the protesters. They beat people with batons, and they responded by throwing snow.
• Locals began recording video messages in which they called on their men to return home from the war. One of the women emphasized that while they are fighting for the ambitions of one person, their people are being beaten with batons by riot police and the National Guard. Against the backdrop of protests in the region, interruptions in the Internet were recorded, probably the authorities were “jamming” communications.

< li>After the end of the protests in Bashkiria, people put forward the idea of ​​extending them on January 19 in Ufa. Singer, showman and dancer Altynai Valitov called for people to go to rallies. According to him, Bashkirs are oppressed on the basis of their nationality, forced to speak Russian, school principals are fired, and the government notices only one people – the Russians. At the same time, the Bashkirs have their own thousand-year history.