“The Kremlin is afraid of nationalism and separatism,” said Abbas Gallyamov, an exiled ethnic Bashkir and former speechwriter for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in a written response to questions. “Putin and his circle were traumatized by the collapse of the U.S.S.R. and are worried that Russia will repeat its fate.”
In his public war speeches, Mr. Putin has portrayed Russia as a harmonious multiethnic society united against what he claims are Western attempts to dismember it. He has lauded ethnic minorities for their contribution to the war and stressed the shared history of the country’s diverse ethnic groups and a common commitment to what he calls “traditional values.”
But Mr. Putin’s use of Russian imperialist rhetoric to justify the war in Ukraine has also empowered once-ostracized far-right movements, leading to an outbreak of xenophobic rhetoric.
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Tensions in Baymak, in the Republic of Bashkortostan region of Russia, flared on Monday after residents gathered outside the courthouse to protest over the trial of the activist, Fail Alsynov.
The trial of Mr. Alsynov has shown how long-running ethnic grievances in the Russian provinces can swiftly assume antiwar undertones, in a potentially explosive mix that the government has demonstrated in Baymak that it will act decisively to prevent.
“The Kremlin is afraid of nationalism and separatism,” said Abbas Gallyamov, an exiled ethnic Bashkir and former speechwriter for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in a written response to questions.
Videos of the protests showed hundreds of security officers in full riot gear clashing with demonstrators outside the courthouse of Baymak, a town of 15,000 people, and local media reported that mobile data access in the area had been restricted.
Several social media accounts that covered the protests have disappeared from platforms popular in Russia this week, and the Russian Prosecutor’s Office in Moscow said on Wednesday that it had opened a criminal case over the incitement of riots.
The leader of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, said in a social media post on Thursday that his office had worked to charge Mr. Alsynov with extremism and to ban his organization, Bashkort, which had promoted Bashkir language and culture and opposed mining in the region.
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