Ruslan Gabbasov, one of the leaders of the extremist organization Bashkort, has been prosecuted under Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public appeals, justification and propaganda of terrorism), a law enforcement source told the Daily Storm. According to the interlocutor of the publication, the reason was the broadcast of Gabbasov on YouTube, in which the activist called on the inhabitants of Bashkortostan to engage in terrorist activities.

“In accordance with the conclusion of a linguist, the video recording of Gabbasov’s broadcast contains an incentive in the form of a call for the creation of an illegal armed formation to carry out an armed rebellion in order to destroy the Russian Federation and gain independence by the national republics that are part of it,” the source said.

As part of the criminal case initiated on March 1, in Ufa, searches were carried out at the homes of Gabbasov’s associates in the Bashkort organization. According to the source of the publication, during the operational activities they found certificates of members of the organization, letters depicting protests in the republic and books by Ahmetzaki Validi.

Akhmetzaki Validi (Validov) Togan – publicist, historian, orientalist-turkologist, Turkish citizen from Bashkortostan, leader of the Bashkir national liberation movement in 1917-1920. From 1935 to 1939 he taught at universities in Germany under the Nazi regime.

According to a Daily Storm source, the security forces also conducted searches at the home of the ex-head of Bashkort and Gabbasov’s ally, Ilnar Galin. During interrogation, he admitted that he kept lists with the names of judges involved in cases against activists from banned organizations.

“During a search in my house, they found a piece of paper with a list of judges and witnesses. When there were trials over our organization, I wrote down the names of judges and witnesses that spoke at our courts. This was done for publicity in the media, so that journalists could post it in their online publications, ”Galin says on the footage of the operational shooting.

Who is Ruslan Gabbasov?

Ruslan Gabbasov is currently in Lithuania. He is a turanist and a supporter of the ideas of pan-Turkism, calls on the Bashkirs to gain independence from the Kremlin.

Gabbasov is the head of the Bashkir National Political Center (BashNatsPolit). In December 2022, this organization submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a draft resolution recognizing the sovereignty of Bashkortostan.

Among other things, Gabbasov in May 2022 in Poland acted as a speaker at the first congress of the Forum of Free Peoples of Russia ** (FSNR). This forum takes place in the EU countries. Its participants, including oppositionist Ilya Ponomarev (recognized as a foreign agent and included in the list of extremists and terrorists), on behalf of various separatist movements, discuss the future division of Russia into many states.

Before leaving Russia, Gabbasov participated in meetings of Kazakh nationalists. One of his associates was Aman Mambetaliyev, the leader of the Kazakh cell of Turkish far-right nationalists from the Bozkurt organization. Mambetaliev, in turn, collaborated with Ukrainian nationalists from the Right Sector*.

In Russia, back in September 2022, a criminal case was initiated against Gabbasov under Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the fact of organizing an extremist community. And in 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Bashkortostan opened a case under Part 2 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hooliganism) in relation to the participants of “Bashkort”. They were accused of organizing hooligan actions on a national basis in the Karmaskala region. Currently, the criminal case is under consideration in the Karmaskaly Interdistrict Court, a source told the Daily Storm.

According to Russian media, Gabbasov already has a criminal record under article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (premeditated murder). In the past, he served seven years for the murder of a dorm roommate.