Without "soda", please. How eco -activists defended Shihan Kushtau

For almost two weeks, fierce protests against the development of Shikhan Kustau continued for almost two weeks. According to human rights activists and lawyers, about 80 people were detained, some of them have already been arrested. Finally, in the confrontation between local activists who defended the mountain as a unique natural object, and the “Bashkir soda company”, which sees the limestone deposit in it, the head of the Republic of Radiy Khabirov intervened . Mediazon tells how the activists managed to suspend a project that threatened grief with destruction.

In early August, a tent camp appeared at the foot of Kuzhtau in Bashkiria - he was defeated by eco -activists who protest against deforestation for the industrial production of limestone, threatening the destruction of the mountain.

On August 6, several people who tried to interfere with cutting were detained . Three days later, several thousand inhabitants of Bashkiria entered the action in defense of the Kostau mountain. They were opposed by police and guards (BSK), who in 2018 received Kushtau in development. According to activists, gas spray cans and light -school grenades used gas employees to accelerate protesters. At the same time, the Russian Guard generally denied the use of special vehicles against protesters.

“Some kind of athletes and bikers arrived with riot police. All together with the employees of the ChOP pull the defenders from the crowd and transferred to the police. We do not give special equipment to drive, ”said Rim Abdulnasyrov, one of the defenders of Kuzhtau, then.

On August 15, the Chopovtsy, with the support of the security forces, defeated the camp, about 80 people were detained , and some of them appointed administrative arrest. However, this did not stop the defenders of Kuzhtau - the next day they managed to recapture the camp. And most importantly - to achieve the reaction of the republican authorities, which all these days, it seemed, did not notice opponents of the destruction of a unique natural object. The protests against the BSC were accompanied by brutal skirmishes with the chokes and security forces, the participants of the action were beaten with batons, trying to push away from the barrier, blocking the way to the territory of the deposit, but they returned back.

Limestone instead of a geopark

Kuzhtau Mountain is located 18 kilometers from Sterlitamak and 140 kilometers from the capital of Bashkiria Ufa. Kustau is not only a favorite vacation spot for tourists and local residents (there is a ski route and a recreation house here), but above all, a monument of nature from the point of view of ecologists. From 2014 to 2019, 22 species of animals listed in the Red Books of Russia, Bashkortostan and the International Union of Nature Protection were discovered in the mountains. The limestone shikhan in the south of Bashkortostan is unique - these are the remains of reefs of the ancient seas. The conditions on Shikhans are very different from the steppes surrounding them, notes Greenpeace. Russia ”, thanks to this, the unique“ communities of plants and animals ”formed on them.

Kushtau was offered to assign the status of a specially protected area, but this idea did not find a response from the authorities. Moreover, in 2018, the authorities of the republic transferred Shihan under the production of limestone "Bashkir Soda Company." She was given a development license for the next year. As Kommersant wrote , the BSK, which predicts the shortage of raw materials after 2020, was interested in the development of another mountain - Toratau, but the head of the republic Radiy Khabirov insisted on the option with Kuzhtau.

“The development of Shihan will solve the raw material problem of the Bashkir Soda Company <...>. There will be raw materials by the "Bashkir Soda Company" - the city will be provided with stable development for decades: there will be salaries, at home will be built, a normal life will be built. This is our most important argument in favor of the development of Kushtau, ”Novaya Gazeta, Deputy General Director of BSK Rustem Basyrov, told Novaya Gazeta. According to him, there is a lot of limestone in Bashkiria, but for the chemical industry it is necessary that it be of high quality - just this can give Kustau.

Basyrov admitted that Kushtau would be enough for 50-70 years, and then-probably the next Shihan. “And perhaps some other decision. Perhaps there will be some new technologies, ”the BSC top manager specified.

He associated protests against the development of Kuzhtau with the struggle for the market, and not with the protection of nature. The Republican Government supports this point of view - the authorities believe that the conflict around the mountain is supported by "other interests who would like to engage in the production of soda in no less beautiful places in the republic."

Indeed, as the place of industrial production of limestone, Kushtau began to be considered after that ecologists and local residents managed to defend two other shikhan, the development of which BSK -Yoractau and Toratau claimed. After protests, the authorities refused to transfer them to the industrial company. Now activists are insisting that Kuzhtau also be included in the boundaries of the future geopark of Toratau. The republican authorities also called on the Presidential Council for Human Rights.

“Together with the two other remaining Shikhans - Yoracti and Toratau - Kustau is a single natural complex, which is worthy to give him the status of a specially protected natural territory of federal significance,” said the representative of Greenpeace. Russia »Mikhail Craidlin.

Two weeks of protest - 80 detainees

Eco -activists and local residents call the events around Shihan Kushtau “new” and demand an annul in the transfer of the mountain to the development of BSK. This was preceded by appeals to Vladimir Putin and the Prosecutor General’s Office, but the federal authorities did not pay attention to the problem. A petition with a demand to prohibit the development of Bashkir Shikhanov has signed almost 25 thousand people today. In support of the protesters, the comedian and TV presenter Maxim Galkin, rapper Feys and DDT leader Yuri Shevchuk spoke.

Famous TV presenter Tagir Vakhitov, famous in Bashkortostan, resigned from the regional BST channel in protest - on August 15, this channel reported a flash mob in support of the BSC, whose participants "made up the enterprise and give the opportunity to work."

In response to the protests of the eco -defenders on August 15, Kuzhtau passed a flash mob in support of the BSC employees, who, according to the organizers, may lose their work in case of production stop. According to company representatives, 9 thousand people work at the plant. The shares were the director of the BSC Eduard Davydov and his deputy, who said that “the plant today is suffocating without raw materials. We need raw materials to continue to live and develop. ”

The active phase of the confrontation between eco -activists and the “Bashkir Sodov” fell at the beginning of August, when Kustau had construction equipment, and workers began to cut down the trees. Eco -activists arranged a tent camp at the foot of the mountain and organized duty. By August 6, local residents joined them. Shihan’s protests lasted almost two weeks. The inhabitants of the camp under the mountain were opposed not only by the security forces and employees of the ChOP hired by the BSC, but also, as the New Gazeta wrote , the titles-mercenaries. People were beaten with batons, forcing them to leave the camp - on August 15, the protesters were expected in the end, but the next day they returned to their positions.

Promotions in the defense of Shihan were accompanied by numerous detentions. According to the calculations of the lawyer Garifulla Yapparov, detained about 80 people. As he told Mediazone, Kustau defenders are charged with and.

“Now there is a court in Ishimbai, although Sunday, the time of 11 hours [in the evening], the day of lawyers was not allowed to the process, the closed court in the administrative case was fought, which is illegal. So far, no one was released and terminated the proceedings, ”Yapparov told Mediazone. According to him, the night before, two activists were given six days of arrest for.

The head of the human rights project “Apology of Protest” Alexei Glukhov, in turn, added that the defenders of the mountain also made protocols under articles on the conduct of inconsistent public actions. “All night 35 people spent in auto -zaks,” the “protest apology” noted.

Against the backdrop of protests on August 16, the head of Bashkiria Radiy Khabirov came to the activists.

“BSK leave, you leave. And I give you the word that no one will go to this mountain until we find a compromise solution, ”Khabirov said . The audience met his speech with an approving hum. After some time, the BSK technique left the territory of Kustau. Following the workers, the police also left the police. Activists began to disperse.

“Do not relax, Khabirov is not the first time not to fulfill his promises,” said lawyer Yapparov. “Now you are in euphoria, but you don’t need to relax.”

Editor: Dmitry Tkachev