In Ufa, security forces have detained a Bashkir blogger who was defending the Kryktytau ridge from the construction of a factory.

Law enforcement officers in Ufa have detained Bashkir civil society activist and blogger Ural Baibulatov, who had spoken out in defence of the Kryktytau ridge against a mining and processing plant project. A friend of Baibulatov reported this to the outlet Idel.Realii .

According to the friend, FSB officers came to the blogger at six in the morning.

“They conducted a search, seized a laptop and mobile phone, then took him to Sovietskaya Street, to the Investigative Committee office,” the activist’s acquaintance said.

The friend added that the detention “is most likely connected to his work defending the Kryktytau ridge in the Abzelilovsky district.”

According to the Kushtau Bayram channel, law enforcement also carried out a search in the home of another defender of the ridge, Ildar Khabirov, in Magnitogorsk, a major industrial city in the Urals. Earlier, Khabirov had recorded a video describing the harm the mining plant could cause.

The Insider Bashkortostan channel reports that police visited under the pretext of a routine check. The channel did not mention a search at Khabirov’s home.

• Earlier this year, Russian Copper Company announced it would resume geological survey work at Kryktytau ridge. There are future plans to build a mining and processing plant there and extract copper.
• According to Idel.Realii, the authorities in Bashkortostan support the company’s project. However, local environmentalists and activists oppose the construction. They say the plant would cause significant environmental damage and leave some villages in Bashkiria’s Trans-Urals without access to drinking water.