Dmitry Mikhailichenko - about the disappearance of Bashkir opposition telegram channels

Political scientist Dmitry Mikhailichenko comments on the disappearance of Bashkir opposition telegram channels:

“In Bashkiria, several opposition telegram channels were deleted at once: such an “information policy” could be called the dream of many governors.

<...> In recent years, Bashkir opposition telegram channels, including those with the participation of foreign agents, have actively provoked protests against the current authorities and the federal government in the republic, and yesterday they... suddenly disappeared.

Telegram founder P. Durov recently stated that channels like “Morning of Dagestan” that call for violence will be blocked: in Bashkiria there are already versions that explain the destruction of Telegram channels in this way.

Perhaps the Bashkir opposition telegram channels were reset in another way, which was not in any way agreed upon with Durov. But the option of mass complaints and a ban by the “cart” administration is also possible, but then a scandal will result.

Deleting regional Telegram channels is too much damage to the entire Telegram ecosystem, and this is a very valuable resource based on trust in the platform.

The measure to reset telegram channels looks more spectacular than effective. Telegram channels have disappeared, but Bashkir nationalists have not: there are moderates among them, but many have a strong potential for radicalization. In Ufa, a population of millions, the apolitical society, in which there are many interethnic marriages, is immune to this kind of radicalization, but in the outback it is not. And this is the danger and inadmissibility of the development of separatist sentiments in the national republics. Nevertheless, Bashkir nationalists have a live audience and it will most likely gather again under approximately similar names of newly created telegram channels.”