We need to invest in nationalism, but refrain from high expectations, the expert noted.

There are three small “points” in Russia (Dagestan, Ichkeria and Bashkortostan) that must be hit in order to deal a serious blow to the Russian authorities. This opinion was expressed by political scientist Nikolai Davidyuk on Channel 24.

In particular, he commented on the events in Bashkortostan – protests in support of Fail Alsinov, who was sentenced to four years in prison.

“Dagestan, Ichkeria and Bashkortostan are the three toughest points where we need to hit, where it can be easiest. We already realized that we won’t do anything with the European part of Russia – neither St. Petersburg nor Moscow came out, didn’t shake up Putin, don’t want war,” says Davidyuk.

He believes that it would be nice to improve relations with the leaders of Bashkortostan.

“Some leaders of Bashkortostan sit in Vienna, others in London, that is, we can work with this and definitely need to. Now there will be the most raucous moment in Putin’s career in history – the “coronation of the king” (elections in the Russian Federation). This is a fragile moment when You seem to be the power, but not yet the power. And this moment can be disrupted – it is very fragile…”, the specialist believes.

In his opinion, the main thing is that it is necessary to invest in nationalism “there”, which will give a peak point when people like Bashkortostan begin to break away, and there will be no room for federalism.

“Because this guy (Fail Alsinov – ) is not an environmental activist, as he is often portrayed. He is a political nationalist of his republic. He says: “I don’t want them to steal gold, I don’t want them to steal soda.” This is political history “In Bashkiria, now everything has come down to the fact that they are still calling for the preservation of their nation, they do not want to dissolve in the Russian empire among the Russians,” notes Davidyuk.

According to him, the Bashkirs do not want to be called Russians. Local activists call for the use of the Bashkir language and all this is very important. In addition, the Republic of Bashkortostan itself is written in the Constitution in such a way that it is an almost ready-made state, just like Tatarstan.

“That is, the Russians, who seemed to go to help them, but in fact colonized them, according to the documents, did not even close their question,” said Davidyuk.

At the same time, he added that it was important not to overestimate the protests in Bashkortostan, because there are not many people there (only about 5 million inhabitants), and Ukrainians already had very high expectations at the beginning of a full-scale invasion. Then, in 2022, residents of Ukraine called and wrote to relatives and friends in Russia, saying, “go out onto the streets.” However, it turned out that a significant number of these Russians are “rednecks who rejoice at the sight of the blood” of Ukrainians.

Davidyuk noted that until March, the elections in the Russian Federation, there is still a certain “window of opportunity” in this direction; whether it will work is unknown.

Protests in Russia

Let us remind you that in the Russian city of Ufa (the capital of Bashkortostan) people gathered for a peaceful rally in support of activist Fail Alsinov, who was sentenced to four years in prison. The protest took place in a square in the center of Ufa. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Bashkortostan announced “responsibility for participation in unauthorized actions,” and the protest ended with the detention of local residents – people were pulled out of the crowd, and after the end of the action they were grabbed in the adjacent streets.