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In Bashkortostan, security forces have opened a criminal case against blogger and civic activist Ural Baibulatov, who campaigned to protect the Kryktytau ridge from the construction of a mining and processing plant. This was reported by Idel.Realii.
Baibulatov’s detention became known on 5 June. According to the blogger’s acquaintance, FSB officers came to his home at six in the morning, conducted a search and seized equipment. Baibulatov himself was taken to the Investigative Committee office.
On 6 June, the activist was charged under an article relating to the public dissemination by a group, in advance collusion, of knowingly false information about circumstances posing a threat to the life and safety of citizens (Article 207.1 of the Criminal Code, with Article 35 applied).
The same day, the Sovetsky District Court in Ufa imposed a measure of restraint on the blogger, prohibiting certain activities for two months. He was also banned from leaving his apartment at night and from communicating with other persons involved in the case. Their names are not yet known.
The grounds for the case against Baibulatov, initiated on 3 June, was a post in the activist’s Telegram channel dated 22 April this year. The activist, along with others, opposed a decision by the Russian Copper Company to resume geological exploration at the Kryktytau ridge, where a mining and processing plant could be built and copper extracted in the near future.
In his publication, Ural Baibulatov stated that the construction of the plant would “destroy the ecology of the Abzelilovsky District.”
“Industrial development will lead to air pollution with dust, possible radioactive contamination, and will destroy a natural gem, undermining tourism. The economic benefit is questionable due to the low metal [copper] content in the ore. Open-pit mining and blasting could disrupt the hydrological balance and result in desertification of the area,” the blogger said in the video.
He also noted that, according to local residents, in 1968 nuclear waste was “buried in the forests near the ridge,” and near the village of Iskak there is a “concreted animal burial pit containing anthrax.”
It was these statements that investigators deemed knowingly false, Idel.Realii notes. According to security forces, the video Baibulatov published in the post “misled the public, resulting in a significant increase in social tension and a surge in protest activity.”
According to the Kushtau Bayram channel, on 5 June, security forces also carried out a search at the home of another defender of the ridge, Ildar Khabirov, in Magnitogorsk, a major industrial city in the Urals. Earlier, the activist had recorded a video explaining the harm caused by the construction of the processing plant. According to the Insider Bashkortostan channel, police visited Khabirov under the pretext of an inspection. This channel did not report a search at the activist’s home.
Local residents also reported that searches were carried out “in several settlements in Abzelilovsky District” that day.
“They were released immediately and given ‘warnings about the inadmissibility of extremist activity,’” reported the Tabigat channel later.
Journalists were unable to identify the names of the activists who were subjected to investigative actions.
The main channel of the defenders of the ridge, “Nash Kyrkty-tau,” meanwhile reported that “an intimidation campaign against nature defenders” was underway and that “the authorities have chosen a forceful approach.”
- This spring, the Russian Copper Company announced a decision to resume geological exploration at the Kryktytau ridge. According to Idel.Realii, the Bashkortostan authorities support the company’s project. However, local environmentalists and activists are opposing construction. They say building the plant will inflict significant harm on nature and leave several settlements in part of Bashkir Trans-Urals without drinking water.