Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, located in the Ural Mountains region, erupted in protests in mid-January following the arrest of Fayil Alsynov, a well-known local activist who was sentenced to four years in prison. In one of the few major protests since the invasion of Ukraine made public dissent almost impossible, thousands of people came to the small town of Baymak to show their support for Alsynov and call for his release. In this episode we speak with Abbas Galyamov, a political scientist from Bashkortostan now in exile, and Moscow Times journalist Leyla Latypova, who specializes in Russia’s ethnic republics, about the factors that catalyzed the protests and whether we can expect more rallies soon. Find us at: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/ https://www.facebook.com/MoscowTimes/ https://twitter.com/moscowtimes https://t.me/moscowtimes_en https://www.instagram.com/themoscowtimes/