The Ministry of Digital Development of Bashkortostan commented on the interruptions in the work of Telegram and WhatsApp – Kommersant

Residents of Bashkortostan are complaining that Telegram, as well as WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and banned in the Russian Federation), have not been working in the republic for several days. The Republican Ministry of Digital Development denies involvement in the failures.

Residents leave their complaints on the page of the head of Bashkiria Radiy Khabirov in “In contact with”. “This incident with access to instant messengers is beyond the competence of the republican authorities. We regret that we cannot help resolve the situation,” replied Alevtina Dautova, an employee of the Ministry of Digital Development of the Republic (quote from the portal “ResBash”).

On January 15 and 17, rallies were held in front of the local Baymak district court in support of convicted activist Fail Alchinov (included in the list of extremists and terrorists). He was sentenced to four years in a general regime colony, having been found guilty of inciting hatred or enmity, humiliation of human dignity (Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the verdict, in April 2023 he made a speech “with negative content towards persons of Armenian, Caucasian and Central Asian nationalities.”

Head of Bashkiria believesthat part of the blame for the riots in the city of Baymak lies with the authorities of the republic, including himself. At the same time, he called Alchinov a traitor who called for guerrilla warfare. Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov believesthat in Bashkiria “there are no mass riots and mass protests,” but “there are isolated manifestations.”

Laura Keffer