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[music]
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8:34 in Bashkiria, on the air of Echo of Moscow in Ufa.
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News. In the studio, Aidar Akhmadiev.
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Hello. Alexei Navalny has expressed support for
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the defenders of the Bashkir shikhans (isolated limestone hills in Bashkortostan). The politician, in
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a conversation with a journalist from Echo of Moscow in Ufa,
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said that the situation involving protests drawing thousands of people
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in Bashkiria
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has reached a major scale and can
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be compared with such major
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environmental movements as the protests
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by residents of the Arkhangelsk region against
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the construction of a landfill in Shiyes.
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Navalny believes that the situation surrounding
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the Bashkir shikhans
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"I support all residents of the republic
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who are involved in defending the shikhans, and our
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headquarters is actively engaged in this here.
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This is truly just a crazy
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situation. No one has the slightest
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doubt that this is not just a natural monument, but also
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in some sense a symbolic
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thing for Bashkortostan and for all
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its residents. And in violation of all norms, in
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violation of common sense, going against, in
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the literal sense, the will of the people,
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for the sake of some oligarchs—who, frankly,
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it is not even clear who they are—earning
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an additional several million dolla-
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several million dollars. Is all of this really
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necessary?"
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Navalny said that the head of the republic, Radiy
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Khabirov, uses as an argument
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the false claim of financial damage
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to Sterlitamak if the development
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of the mountain is halted. "But we know that this is
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absolutely not the case, that it is a complete lie.
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The only issue here is purely one of
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greed, and it is regrettable, disgusting, and
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unacceptable that the question of earning
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several million or tens of
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millions of dollars for some people is, for
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our authorities, more important than the opinion, as I
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understand it, the consolidated opinion of all
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residents of the republic." Navalny called on
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the people of Bashkiria to actively speak out about
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their position and, quote, "take to the streets,"
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end quote, to defend the shikhans.
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According to him, the protest movement will
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only continue to grow. We recall that over the course of
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several days, at the foot of
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Kushtau, environmental activists have been making
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efforts to prevent
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employees of Raw Materials Company JSC, which
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plans to begin geological exploration
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drilling on the shikhan. Earlier, the decision to
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hand the mountain over for development was made
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by the republic’s authorities. According to Doctor of
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Chemical Sciences Mars Safarov, Kushtau,
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along with the other shikhans, is
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a unique natural site of global
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importance. His words are confirmed by a number of
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other scientists. On the surface of the mountains live
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animal and plant species listed in the Red Book (official endangered species list), and the
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shikhans themselves consist of limestone rock
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formed several hundred million
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years ago, researchers say. For
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the production of soda ash, they say, it is possible
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to find an alternative source of raw materials.
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Earlier, the international environmental
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organization Greenpeace also
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demanded that industrial activity be stopped
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at Kushtau and that the activities of
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Bashkir Soda Company JSC be checked
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for compliance with the law.
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The relevant letter was delivered
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to Russia’s Prosecutor General, Igor Krasnov.
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Representatives of BSK, for their part,
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say that the facts are being misinterpreted and that there is
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a misunderstanding of the production process.
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The state media of the republic have also repeatedly
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published materials about the alleged bribing of
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protesters and about the campaign against
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the development of the mountain being an instrument
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of competitive struggle.