part of the blame for the riots lies with the authorities – Kommersant

The head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov, believes that part of the blame for the riots in the city of Baymak lies with the authorities of the republic, including himself. He called Fail Alchinov (listed as a terrorist and extremist), in whose support the protests took place, a traitor who called for guerrilla warfare.

“Somewhere there is our fault, the fault of the municipalities, my personal fault for not fully explaining to people, not fully revealing the essence and content of these people. Now we will actively engage in this. I won’t keep silent either, we will show the true face of these guys,” wrote Radiy Khabirov in Telegram channel.

According to the head of the republic, several hundred people came to Baymak from all over the region. The rest were residents of the city itself – they “looked and left.”

The organizers of the action, as Radiy Khabirov added, called for separatism. “You can put on the mask of a good environmental activist, a patriot, but in reality the situation is completely different. A group of people, some of whom are abroad, essentially being traitors, are calling for the separation of Bashkiria from Russia. They are calling for guerrilla warfare here,” the head of the region wrote.

On January 17, an unauthorized public protest took place in Baymak. On the same day, the Baymaksky District Court found Fail Alchinov guilty of inciting hatred or enmity, humiliating human dignity (Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and sentenced him to four years of imprisonment in a general regime colony. Investigative Committee of Russia excited criminal cases of mass riots (Article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the verdict, in April 2023, Fail Alchinov made a speech “with negative content towards persons of Armenian, Caucasian and Central Asian nationalities.”

Read more in the Kommersant article. “One sentence will turn into several”.