Bashkir nationalists in Russia who won their spurs in successful protests against the exploitation of the Kushtau chalk deposit have announced the formation of an armed resistance movement to oppose what they say is “not our war” by firebombing military centers and the offices of political parties and to pursue state independence for Bashkortostan.
The Bashkirs (Bashkir: Башҡорттар, romanized: Bashqorttar, IPA: [bɑʃqortˈtɑr]; Russian: Башкиры, pronounced [bɐʂˈkʲirɨ]) are a Kipchak Turkic ethnic group, indigenous to Russia. They are concentrated in Bashkortostan, a republic of the Russian Federation and in the broader historical region of Badzhgard, which spans both sides of the Ural Mountains, where Eastern Europe meets North Asia
