In Bashkortostan, security forces detained and already released environmental activists

Criminal investigation officers detained environmental activists and defenders of the Kushtau Shikhan Vadim Iskanderov and Dmitry Petrov, reports the telegram channel “This is “We live here!”.”

The telegram channel “KushTau on-line” writes that employees of Center “E” also detained Fail Alsynov, the ex-head of the Bashkir national organization “Bashkort”.

All three are already free .

The reason for the detention of Iskanderov and Petrov was that they allegedly hung anti-war banners in the city of Kumertau. It is unknown whether reports were drawn up against the detainees.

Companions of the detainees attribute the pressure to a flash mob against illegal gold mining in the Baymak region, planned for today. This action was supposed to take place on April 9, at 9:00 Moscow time in the village of Basaevo (Baymaksky district). However, the police blocked the road to the venue. It's impossible to get there now.

Alsynov told Idel.Realities that the security forces asked him about this flash mob, as well as about the connections between the Baymak eco-protests and the events in Ukraine.

In March, Alsynov was fined on charges of organizing another flash mob - on February 20, beekeepers of the Ishimbay region gathered on the highway connecting two villages to protest against the authorities’ plans to lease local land plots to French investors.

• Shikhan Kushtau is a small mountain in the Ishimbay region of Bashkortostan. Local activists have been fighting for several months against deforestation for the development of soda and limestone deposits in the territory of Kushtau. In September 2020, the government of Bashkiria declared Shikhan Kushtau a natural monument of republican significance. After this, work on the mountain stopped.
• Bashkir activists are in favor of preserving several natural monuments, the remaining shihans - Toratau, Kushtau and Yuraktau. The previously existing shihan of Shakhtau was completely destroyed to obtain raw materials by the Bashkir Soda Company. On August 15, police detained more than 70 defenders of Kushtau, many of them were later arrested under administrative charges. The head of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, threatened the protesters with criminal charges, but later promised that the Shikhan would be given the status of a specially protected area.
• The Bashkir public organization “Bashkort” was recognized as extremist in May 2020 by decision of the Supreme Court of the republic.