Was the apology in vain? A criminal case has been opened in Bashkortostan over a photo with the Russian imperial flag.
«Yesterday we took a photo with a Russian flag, the meaning of which we don't know. We therefore want to apologize for that."— a video of young people apologizing in the Bashkir language was published today by the Telegram channel "Operation Z: War Correspondents of the Russian Spring."
The guys had to apologize for a photo with a black, yellow, and white flag with a double-headed eagle and the inscription “We are Russian, God is with us.”
It is specified that they decided to take a photo with the imperial flag for the birthday of the leader of the Bashkir national movement Ahmet-Zaki Validi (1890-1970).
Validi was a historian, orientalist, publicist, and political figure. He was an active participant in the Civil War, during which he fought against the Bolsheviks, fell out with Kolchak, and formed Bashkir units of the Red Army. Dissatisfied with the Soviets' nationality policy, he broke with the Bolsheviks and became one of the leaders of the Basmachi movement. He died in exile.
During the Soviet era, he was declared an enemy of the people. In the post-Soviet era, a street in Ufa was named after him. In the 2000s, accusations of Validi collaborating with Nazi German intelligence were widespread, although these allegations were repeatedly denied by the FSB.
«Under this [imperial] flag, Bashkirs were slaughtered by the tens of thousands, and they proudly take pictures with it" ," several public groups commented on the photo of young people with an imperial flag. Other commenters immediately noted that the call to punish "imperialists" came from a political émigré. Ruslana Gabbasova (at the same time on his personal Telegram channel published only reposts and screenshots from other sources).
Gabbasov is known in the region for his nationalist views; he was one of the founders of the organization “Bashkortostan" Allegedly, Gabbasov's allies forced the young men to apologize to their people for the photo with the imperial flag. Propaganda media rushed to accuse the "fighters against imperialism" of inciting ethnic hatred.
Now investigators are conducting an investigation into the fact, and Bastrykin instructed A criminal case was opened. The suspects were "supporters of an extremist organization" who "under threat of violence forced local residents to apologize for a photo posted on social media featuring a Russian Imperial flag."
It's worth noting that forcing public apologies under threat of violence is a fairly common practice in today's Russia. And Bastrykin's department doesn't always respond to this practice as quickly as in this case.
