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“Freedom for failure Alsynov!” » Why was the prosecution of a Bashkir activist enough to spark primary protests in Russia in 2024?

Last week, the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan witnessed some of the largest protests the country has seen since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But while the ongoing war is a vital detail in the context of all the social unrest that Russia is experiencing these days, it is not the explanation of the reason for this demonstration. Instead, protesters demanded the freedom of Fail Alsynov, one of the leaders of the Bashkir nationalist movement and a prominent local activist. While Alsynov has done his best in recent years not to give the government simple excuses to prosecute him, his political friends have become increasingly critical of the Kremlin since February 2022. Late last year, Bashkortostan’s leaders They appropriated a word used. via Alsynov a press conference. He protests environmentalism to finally criminalize it, and this week he was sentenced to four years in prison. The independent media outlet Verstka, which sent a correspondent to the protests sparked by the ruling, explained how the unrest spread and why support for Alsynov is so strong in Bashkortostan. Meduza summarizes the report in English.

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