Time to read: 19 minutes(s)

Bashkortostan lies in the steppe, with almost 1,3 million hectares of the republic covered by pastures and hayfields. The southeast of the republic offers tens of kilometers of open space. Sparse forests intersect it here and there, thinly dividing the territory, filled with wind, smells, and sounds. There's plenty of land. But who owns it?

Podolsk is a village in southeastern Bashkortostan, in the Khaibullinsky District. What's been happening there for the past six months has implications for all of Bashkortostan. A complex issue has arisen here: land.

In 2014-2015, two women began going door-to-door in Podolsk, asking residents one question: "Do you need a house or money?" The villagers are still having to answer that question, almost ten years later.

Podolsk sits atop a copper-zinc and pyrite deposit discovered in 1971. The deposit also contains gold and silver. The first mine is almost a kilometer from the village. Plans are underway to build a second one, this time on the site of the village. Bashmed is developing the mine.

At the enterprise two founders: JSC Uchalinsky GOK and OJSC Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company. UMMC – Russia's largest copper producer, the second largest. The holding unites about 50 enterprises in industry and agriculture. In 2022 UMMC profit amounted to 15 billion rubles, revenue - 299 billion rubles.

The Podolsk deposit's estimated capacity is 88,6 million tons of copper, zinc, sulfur, silver, and gold. Bashmedi plans to open the mine in the first few years. will create 600 jobs.  In addition to the mine, it is planned to build a processing plant where the mined ore will be processed.

In August 2019, the head of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, and the director of UMMC, Andrey Kozitsyn, the first stone was laid to develop a deposit in Podolsk. In 2022, Kozitsyn was sanctioned and resigned. UMMC is also under sanctions.

The people who came to the Podolsk residents represented the interests of Bashmedi.

The first residents arrived in Podolsk in 1956. Young people moved here from the neighboring village of Sukrak, building houses and settling down. Now the children and grandchildren of those builders live here. And then Bashmed came calling, inviting people to relocate.

 Bashmed promised to build a new village and equip it with all the necessary infrastructure: schools, kindergartens, a hospital, etc.

In December 2019, at a citizens' meeting with the head of the republic, Radiy Khabirov, Podolsk residents voted to relocate to Sukrak, six to seven kilometers to the north. This is where the first settlers of Podolsk once came from.

Later, Bashmedi representatives appeared with a document on resettlement and residents' signatures. However, this time, the resettlement location was not Sukrak, but the territory of a neighboring village. Makansky rural settlement. The document made no mention of infrastructure or other conditions that residents claimed they had previously agreed to. Residents didn't immediately notice this.

In 2023, Bashmedi representatives began offering Podolsk residents 700-900 rubles for houses and relocation. Sometimes the price reached 1-1.5 million rubles. Few were willing to accept this amount and the new terms.

From that moment on, life in Podolsk became more tense with each passing month.

Before the conflict, 378 families and 908 people lived in Podolsk. Now the population is slightly smaller. Most of them keep livestock and grow crops to feed themselves and their families.

Buranbay Askarov, a civil activist who supports Podolsk residents in their dispute with Bashmed.

Buranbai calls the change in the location and conditions of resettlement a deception and a hostile takeover.

"In 2023, they already had a new decree stating that 374 hectares were available for a new settlement, which they had confiscated from the Makan residents, from the neighboring village council. They were supposed to hold a citizens' meeting there and agree with them: 'Do you agree to transfer your agricultural land for the construction of a settlement for the Podolsk residents?' And the Podolsk residents were supposed to agree whether they wanted a new settlement in the current location," he says.

There was no public gathering, but Bashmed has already begun preparations for the construction of a new mine. As a result, Podolsk will not be liquidated on paper, but a new microdistrict will be built on the territory of the Makansky rural settlement.

The villagers recorded it at the beginning of autumn video message to the head of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use, Yevgeny Petrov, in which they reported that the construction of a new village in Sukrak was agreed upon at a meeting on December 30, 2019. And since then, "no decree from the head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, nor a government resolution, as stipulated in Law No. 178 "On the administrative-territorial structure of the republic" "We haven't seen the agreement of April 20, 2005, which regulates the entire process of full resettlement. This means there's still no construction of a new settlement," the appeal states. There isn't one in either Sukrak or the Makansky rural settlement.

At the same time, Bashmed is already constructing a mine 100-150 meters from residential buildings in Podolsk, which, according to the participants of the meeting, “creates noise and air pollution in the village.”

The actions of the company's representatives, according to Buranbai, violate Part 2 of Article 131 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation on changing the boundaries of villages, 178 regional law on the territorial-administrative structure of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Article 85 of Federal Law 131 "On the organization of local self-government", according to which changing the boundaries of villages is possible only taking into account the opinion of local residents.

Changing the housing conditions in a new document signed by residents is another violation, Article 40 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation: According to the law, housing conditions should not worsen during the move.

According to the activist, the republic's authorities allocated 2 billion rubles for the resettlement of residents. If this amount is divided among all families, it turns out that each family could be allocated 5-6 million rubles for resettlement. Bashmed, however, offered the residents less.

The deception, according to Buranbay, "was revealed in 2023." Since the fall, Podolsk residents have held several gatherings to protest Bashmedi's actions.

In September of this year, Ramil Tukaev, Director of Personnel and General Affairs of Bashkir Copper LLC gave an interview to resbash.ru., saying that local residents are already waiting to be resettled.

"Podolsk's long-time residents have repeatedly said at our meetings that they've been thinking about moving, literally since the discovery of the deposit," he told the publication.

According to a Bashmedi representative, a census of the village's population and property was conducted, houses and land were assessed, and the land plots for the construction of a new microdistrict (in Makan) were "transferred from the agricultural land category to residential land."

In order to expand the land plot for the construction of a new microdistrict, the authorities even adopted a separate Law of the Republic of Bashkortostan - on changes in the territorial-administrative structure and boundaries of individual municipalities in the Khaibullinsky district.

According to Tukayev, four three-story apartment buildings are already under construction in Akyar for residents. He added that, since February 2023, Bashmed has purchased 53 buildings in Podolsk "for temporary housing for construction workers at the industrial site."

According to Bashmadi, the relocation is proceeding according to plan, everything is going smoothly. However, many in Podolsk, to put it mildly, would disagree. What's going wrong? Unfortunately, the author was unable to obtain any comment from Bashmadi representatives regarding the disgruntled Podolsk residents. However, the protesters themselves readily explained why they don't want to leave their homes.

Vitaly has lived in Podolsk his whole life. He has a house, a family, and a farm so large that he manages to send food to his children living in the city. He also has livestock: "We keep a cow, pigs, chickens, geese, ducks—everything."

According to Vitaly, Bashmed doesn't take residents' interests into account: "They want to build a workers' settlement, without gardens, without garages, without livestock. They say, 'Go to the store and buy your things there.' But our pension is 15 rubles," he complains.

The Makanskoye rural settlement area designated for Podolsk residents is located several kilometers from Podolsk, closer than Sukrak. Vitaly says nothing will grow there—it's a swamp, a lowland, the soil is poor, and the wind will blow dust from the mine directly onto the houses. This means the Podolsk residents won't be able to maintain their traditional way of life there, nor their standard of living.

In Sukrak there is a forest, water, a pond with fish, mushrooms, and berries.

"They want to build us some kind of barracks. They showed us photos (of the project). We need separate houses," Vitaly notes.

Bashmed is offering 1-1,5 million rubles for individual houses with land. "What can you buy for 1.5 million these days? In Akyar, you need 5-6 million to buy an apartment. It's the same in Sibay (a nearby large village). Where am I supposed to get that money? They're literally robbing us," he says.

The minimum price for a completed house with several rooms and all amenities in Akyar starts from 3 million rubles.

Another reason for Podolsk residents' dissatisfaction with Bashmed is the dilapidated roads in the area. And the bridge, which took two years to repair and was destroyed by 60-ton trucks in less than a year.

There are 20-25 people openly protesting the proposed relocation conditions in Podolsk. Many are keeping quiet. Bashmed is a powerful force here. Not everyone would dare to oppose it. Some have already agreed and sold their land.

"Mostly, those who left were those whose fathers and mothers had died. But the house remained. So they sold it and that was it. They've had a house somewhere for a long time; they don't live here anymore," says Vitaly.

Another category of Podolsk residents are people with gated apartments. The village also has multi-story buildings. According to locals, the apartment owners don't live here because they work shifts in the north—there's no work for them either in the village or in neighboring towns.

Local residents are hired reluctantly and under difficult conditions at Bashmed.

"Those who worked at Bashmedi were fired for going to a meeting. One guy came to the meeting, my neighbor over there, the poor boy. He was such a quiet, peaceful guy, he worked as a security guard at Bashmedi. They fired him," says Ramil, who works as a school caretaker.

 "Many people still have sons or daughters working at Bashmedi. And if they speak out, they're fired, threatened, and told not to attend the meeting," Vitaly adds.

Men in work clothes stand outside a store on the outskirts of Podolsk, and trucks stop. Bashmedi's first shaft, an active mine, is visible across the road. Loaded trucks rush across the steppe from the mine. The white houses of Podolsk seem to shake from the sounds.

In response to a question about the resettlement conditions, the Akyar administration stated that "the company is buying out the residents' property or offering to build a house in the regional center," that is, in Akyar.

"All the terms were discussed at citizens' meetings by the residents themselves. These meetings are frequent, and Bashmed is helping some residents register their property, including land that hasn't been registered through Rosreestr," they added. "Residents haven't fully registered their land plots, and they don't have any title deeds."

The administration is unaware of any Podolsk residents who are dissatisfied with the resettlement.

The first Podolsk residents' rally was planned for September 8th. But it never took place. The rally's organizer, Buranbay Askarov, was arrested the day before and released only after trial.

The authorities brought paddy wagons and fire trucks to the site of the second gathering on September 30. Police arrived. Before the gathering, police officers conducted a walk-through of residents, warning them about participating. And active residents began receiving calls from an unknown number. send threatening messages on WhatsApp.

"Didn't they disperse you?" I ask Vitaly.
"No, the police were there, but we're peaceful. They took one look and then left. We, on the other hand, told them to stand there while we talk... We wrote to the prosecutor's office and to Khabirov, saying, 'We're planning to riot.'"

Podolsk residents are rebelling not only because of the sums offered by Bashmed for the house each family spent years building. They're rebelling not only because of the land the families farmed and grew whatever crops they could on it. They're also rebelling because of deception. After all, the new resettlement document lists Makan, not Sukrak, and contains signatures, some of which aren't theirs. Residents say they were forged. That's why they've already filed two complaints with the prosecutor's office.

“There is an inventory that everyone agrees [to move] towards Makan. We demanded it, because
On December 30, 2019, there was a meeting where everyone voted and elected Sukrak. "They pulled out the inventory and waved it in front of everyone all summer, saying, 'Here are your signatures.' Investigators confiscated it, and it turned out the signatures were fake," says Svetlana, a native of the village.

Investigators did indeed visit residents and conduct interviews because of these signatures. Criminal cases were opened against Bashmedi twice. The investigation of one of these cases was "taken under their control." the chairman took Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation A.I. Bastrykin.

Residents don't know whose signatures are on the document or how they were collected, but they share their guesses.

"At a meeting they held at the school once, women were sitting at the entrance, collecting signatures on blank sheets of paper. I asked, 'Why?' 'That you attended the meeting.' And I didn't sign it. But not everyone would do that. Most signed. No one knew anything; people are gullible. This documentation was gradually collected starting in 2015," suggested one native Podolsk resident, a stately man in a tracksuit.

"We 'collected' signatures from the grandparents, but they're no longer living. They're already in the cemetery," Vitaly adds.

By law, 10% of residents' signatures are enough to agree to a move, he says.

"They're kicking us out because they stole our money," concludes another Podolsk resident.

People here often recall the meeting with the head of the republic, Radiy Khabirov, in 2019, where they were promised relocation to Sukrak. There is no decree from the head of the republic regarding relocation, Podolsk residents point to one of the main arguments. Will residents have another meeting with Khabirov?

Along with several Podolsk residents, we're going to meet Fagilya. She's the oldest resident of Podolsk, 90 years old.

"I've been here since 1960. Everything was fine. Now they want to tear something apart," she begins.

Sukrak was home to the "natives," and Fagilya and her husband lived there for four years at first. When they moved to Podolsk, they began building a house here, one of the first in the village.

She and her husband worked in Podolsk their entire lives. In the 90s, everyone in the village had their own livestock; residents made their own butter, baked their own bread, and grew their own meat. That's how they survived.

When women started going door to door nine years ago, Fagilya names their names: Kharchenko and Sycheva, and asked if she needed a house or money, she replied, "I can't buy an old barn with your money; I need a house. I'm sitting here, this is my home, I'm not going anywhere," she says.

At that time, they did not tell her the price for the house and land.

When residents contacted the prosecutor's office in 2023 about someone else's signatures on a document, Fagila was approached again. This time by investigators.

"I say, 'I haven't done anything wrong, [that] comes to me.' I say, 'Who do you need?' The investigators came in, then asked, 'Did Bashmed come?' I said, 'No.' 'Did the village council come?' I said, 'No.' Then they ask, 'Are they bothering you?' I said, 'No.' 'Are the neighbors good?' I said, 'These good neighbors—these ones left, those ones died.'"

Fagilya doesn’t want to move, even to her children who live in Akyar.

"My girls (daughters) are calling me to Akyar, and I've been sitting there for three days. Even a single dog has come in, but no one has. And here, everyone's here. Should I go there to guard the house? I keep telling them, as long as I can walk, 'I'll be here.' And if you go back and forth, you can pick me up yourself," she says.

Residents believe that the authorities could have built a new village with houses and all the necessary infrastructure within three years of 2019. But they didn't.

In November, a Bashmedi contractor drunkenly crashed a truck into a Podolsk resident's house. Following this incident, the start of construction, lawsuits, and threats, Podolsk residents began walking their children to school.

"They came from somewhere, we don't know who they are. This has never happened before. We never even locked the door before," says Vitaly.

Active Podolsk residents who saw the forged signatures and changes to the resettlement conditions found it difficult to accept them.

"There was talk about building a 700-hectare settlement for us—in the direction of Sibay, called Sukrak. And it was approved at a meeting. We elected local 'elders' to oversee all of this. And now we're waiting for the weather to change," the residents complain.

Then, when the documentation was “rewritten,” the residents declared: “let them close the mine, suspend work, revoke the license.”

According to them, because of the meetings and protests, Bashmed is trying to "pit them against each other" by offering residents varying amounts for their houses and plots. These offers sometimes reach up to 5 million rubles. The ransom amount cannot be formally disclosed, but everyone in the village knows these figures.

"They've chosen to build schools and nothing else (in the new settlement). They're simply resettling people, scattering them in all directions. Fine. But why be greedy? If they'd given people 5 million rubles, they would have left long ago. The whole issue could have been resolved in a month, but they've been sitting and waiting," says Buranbai.

During the first decade and a half of Podolsk's existence, a meat-packing plant, a creamery, and a dairy were built there. All closed in the 2000s. There was also a workshop, a garage, a construction site, and a mill, which closed three years ago. Residents had access to a gym, a nursing home, pharmacies, a massage parlor, and a hospital.

The village community center building, which now has a tree growing on its roof, was supposed to be renovated several years ago, and residents were asked to pay for it. But the renovations were abandoned. The village has no pharmacies, hospitals, gyms, or anything else.

Residents believe that everything is being done to make them leave here themselves.

Svetlana says she got married in Podolsk, and her children and grandchildren were born there. She worked there "her whole life" and retired.

"My husband was the first to come to live here in 1957. Where will he go? He won't go anywhere. Try transplanting that old apple tree somewhere else," she remarks, pointing to a tree next to the house. Svetlana calls her husband "neutral." He worked at Bashmedi and is now retired.

According to her, with the one and a half million rubles that were initially offered to residents for the house and land, they would live like "homeless people."

"You know what a good plot I have? Every bush, every tree is worth something. Let's settle up," Svetlana adds.

"If they're offering 1,5 million, they're buying houses, not land. At the first meeting, they said, 'We only want your land. You can take your buildings, outbuildings, and houses with you.' And now they're only offering 200-300 for the land. And I'm sitting on gold," she says.

When asked what conditions she might agree to for moving, Svetlana replies: “There aren’t any, the land isn’t for sale.”

There's still a school in the village, though it now only has 9 grades. Children from neighboring villages—Vozdvizhenka, Bakalivka, Tashtugaya, Savelyevka, Novaya Ukrainka, and Gadelevo—come there to study. If Podolsk closes, the children will have to travel to Akyar.

"They stole everything, bombed everything," comments Svetlana. "They're finishing it," adds Vitaly.

The conflict in Podolsk is similar to others in Bashkortostan. In 2019-2020, a standoff erupted between activist residents of the republic and the Bashkir Soda Company over the Kushtau shihan near Sterlitamak. The republic's authorities promised to develop the site for the company, and the elevated area is a popular recreation spot for residents. Following mass protests, preparations for development were halted. The Shikhans stopped.

Another mining-related conflict arose in the village of Ishmurzino in Bashkortostan's Baimaksky District. Local residents protested gold mining near the village and its environmental impacts. One of the protesters, Fail Alsynov, was sentenced in January of this year. to four years in prison "for inciting hatred" at a protest in April 2023. He called on village residents to fight.

Podolsk's population is made up of Orthodox Christians and Muslims, Bashkirs and Russians. Several years ago, residents raised the idea of ​​building a mosque and a chapel. They wanted to develop the village.

Sukrak is a Bashkir village. The resettlement of its residents to Podolsk began in 1956 because Sukrak was declared a "hopeless village." Most of its residents were Muslims, and their cemetery remains there.

And on the outskirts of Podolsk, there's now an Orthodox cemetery. "When they blow up the village, what will happen to the remains of our grandfathers?" residents ask.

Bashmed, according to Buranbay, once promised to rebury the residents' ancestors. But it's hard to trust them after the signature issue.

Now in the village they say that the Muslim cemetery in Sukrak will also be targeted and blown up in the future.

"National identity is being erased today. But when you have strong roots, you understand the world on a different level. If you deprive a people of their history, they won't exist in a few generations. This isn't just a responsibility to our ancestors; it's a responsibility to the Almighty," says Buranbay.

The first criminal case against Bashmed, based on residents' complaints, was opened on September 4 and dismissed on September 8. The second case was opened on October 10 and dismissed on October 13. Residents are currently appealing these decisions.

«We'll always have time to leave. That's what I want to convey," says Buranbay. But many want to get rich at Podolsk's expense, while for the residents it's stress and depression. These are people who lived through war and famine here. How can they be deceived?

Buranbai receives threats from unknown people more often than others. "In Bashkiria, we have the concept of 'votchinnik,' meaning, 'this is my land.' And that doesn't allow you to act any differently."