“We Are the People”
Protest and Repression in Bashkortostan
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In January 2024, in Bashkortostan, a part of Russia’s Volga Federal District, a leading member of the banned Bashkir national movement Bashkort received a sentence of four years in a penal colony. Several thousand people protested against the sentence in front of the court building. A wave of arrests began immediately afterwards. The trial has revealed: In Russia’s most populous republic, outrage over the environmental destruction caused by mining is linked to the question of rights of national self-determination. The republic’s leadership is weak and serves the central authorities in Moscow by conducting especially repressive measures. Critics are stigmatized as “extremists” and “agents of foreign secret services”. The war against Ukraine has inflamed the mood. A report from the day of the verdict was announced.
(Osteuropa 1-3/2024, pp. 237–247)