2024 Bashkortostan protests

The 2024 Bashkortostan protests (Bashkir: Башҡортостанда протесттар, romanized: Bashqortostanda protesttar) are a series of protests started on 15 January 2024 beginning in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, sparked by the authorities initiating a criminal case against the Bashkir environmental activist Fail Alsynov, who was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison. This led to demonstrations in the town of Baymak, where at least 1,000 Bashkir protesters assembled. The protests resulted in clashes with the riot police, who in response deployed tear gas and batons against the protesters. The protests spread into the regional capital of Ufa on 19 January, where 10 people were arrested in response.

Due to the growing protests in Bashkortostan, messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram were allegedly blocked across the region, as messages sent by users from major cities such as Moscow, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Saint Petersburg failed to deliver. Most of the failed messages were from the city of Ufa, which is estimated to comprise 22% of all messages in the country, according to the data provided by the Downdetector service.