One of the news stories of the past week has been the testimony of former Russian Senator Igor Izmayestev, who is serving a life sentence in a penal colony, against former President of the Republic of Bashkortostan Murtaza Rakhimov and his son Ural Rakhimov. Izmayestev was sentenced to life in prison in 2010 on a variety of charges, including premeditated murder and terrorism, which he was accused of organizing. Even then, it was clear that this was done to undermine his former boss, whom the security services had forced to relinquish control of the republic in exchange for the opportunity to retire into the shadows rather than serve a life sentence.
In 2014, Izmayestev gave his first testimony against Ural Rakhimov, but at the time it was in connection with a relatively minor economic charge. And now he has accused both father and son Rakhimov of organizing premeditated murders and terrorist acts in order to seize and maintain control over key assets and power in Bashkortostan.
But why should we pay attention to these bureaucratic-criminal conflicts? The reason is that all this is taking place against the backdrop of growing protest activity in Bashkortostan, and seems to be directly related to it. Recently, for example, Raufa Rakhimova, Murtaza Rakhimov’s niece, made a surprisingly strong statement not only supporting the ongoing environmental protests in the region, but also openly calling for a fight against the Kremlin. In her speech, she declared that «power feeds on our fear» and called for «open resistance from Russian society» against «Russian authoritarianism.»
And considering that Raufa Rakhimova is not just any blogger, but the relative of a person of significant influence and also the head of a notable regional media outlet, this news came as a bolt from the blue. And then, a few days later, a video appeared online claiming that her uncle was guilty of crimes that could result in him and his son receiving life sentences. Raufa Rakhimova herself says that under pressure from the authorities, her media sponsors are beginning to withdraw their support one by one.
What can be said about this? As far as Rakhimov is concerned, the situation is beginning to resemble similar stories in the Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk regions. In one case, Governor Sergei Furgal, and in the other, prominent Krasnoyarsk politician Anatoly Bykov, were both imprisoned for crimes allegedly committed many years ago, which were only remembered when they began to make statements inconvenient to the Kremlin. Similarly, in this case, the real or imaginary crimes committed by Rakhimov in the 1990s were only remembered when mass protests began in the republic and his niece supported them.
On the one hand, the Kremlin is paranoid and sees secret plots everywhere. On the other hand, they are cynical, doubting that people can take to the streets and fight for any ideals. Therefore, they are convinced that if mass protest movements start anywhere, they are either the result of the machinations and money of foreign intelligence services and states, or the interests of certain oligarchs. Accordingly, if the latter are neutralized, the protests will disappear on their own.
However, the example of the Khabarovsk region, where people have been protesting en masse for over two months since the arrest and isolation of Sergei Furgal, shows that this is not the case. Disappointment clearly awaits them in Bashkortostan as well, where people are fighting not for Rakhimov’s money but for their own interests and dignity. The lesson that obedient regional leaders loyal to the Kremlin could learn from this situation is that even if they give up their republics in exchange for freedom and immunity acquired through «hard work,» it does not mean that the terms of that deal will not be reevaluated.