Page 55 - bne magazine February 2024_20240206

bne February 2024 Eastern Europe I 55
among protesters, with some urging compatriots fighting in Ukraine to return home and defend their land.
The Kremlin has become extremely sensitive to public protests since the start of the war in Ukraine almost two years ago, afraid of galvanising anti-war sentiment, which has been rising slowly, but remains low for the time being.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bid to be re-elected president for the fifth time kicked off in December and the Kremlin is keen to portray Russia as a peaceful and prosperous place ahead of the election Putin is widely expected to
win by a landslide.
Since the return and jailing of opposition blogger and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny in January
2021 the Kremlin has abandoned any subtlety in repressing opposition groups and grown almost totally intolerant of any form of protest at all, banning demonstrations and closing down NGOs and opposition media outlets en masse.
Following the start of the Bashkortostan protests, Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case
for organising and participating in mass riots and using violence against
a government official. Charges under these serious offences are being investigated, with the committee claiming that the riots involved violence with objects used as weapons, causing injuries, including to law enforcement officers. The charges could be used against any participant in the demonstrations.
In addition to promoting Bashkirian culture, Alsynov is better known as an organiser of protests against the mining development of Kushtau.
The timing of Alsynov's sentencing, just two months before the presidential elections, and the security forces' swift response to the protests, highlights the political tension beneath the surface. Notably, the authorities rapidly shut down opposition Bashkir channels
on Telegram to prevent the protests
2024 Bashkortostan protests. Protesters clashing with police. Photo: Wikipedia.
spreading and becoming coordinated – a technical ability the Kremlin has not previously possessed. WhatsApp users in the republic also reportedly faced difficulties accessing the app.
Telegram has played a key role in demonstrations across the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in recent years.
As bne IntelliNews reported, the Nexta telegram channel played a central role in the Belarusian mass protests that started in August 2020 after Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko massively falsified the returns on the presidential elections.
The Kremlin tried to block Telegram in 2018, but the government finally gave up on trying to block Telegram after a
Alsynov was convicted of breaking Article 318 of the Criminal Code, which was previously employed against participants in mass protests supporting Navalny in January 2021 – the last sizable protests in Russia with hundreds of thousands coming out
to demonstrate in what some hoped would turn into a revolution that could oust Putin.
Half a dozen protesters in Bashkortostan now face up to 15 years in jail on charges of “mass rioting” in Baymak. The number of detentions reported by independent Russian media varies.
The situation in Bashkiria, known for its military-industrial complex and
“Alsynov was imprisoned after delivered
a speech in the spring of 2023, where he used the derogatory expression "kara halyk" at a rally to protest illegal gold mining”
two-year-long battle and removed a ban on the service, which ran circles around the security services attempts to cut it off. Since then the Kremlin has invested heavily in new technological services provided by US companies that now gives it the power to control access to the service.
significant mobilizations, presents challenges for the authorities, as momentum builds. The Kremlin has already launched a counteroffensive with government-aligned bloggers attributing the unrest to external influences.
www.bne.eu