Putin loses grip weeks before election as Russians hurl snowballs at police

Vladimir Putin appears to be losing his tight grip on Russia – with just months to the presidential elections – after a rebellion in one of the oil-producing regions.

Footage shows a crowd hurling snowballs at riot police officers armed with shields and batons the town of Baymak, in the republic of Bashkortostan.

As many as 5,000 people gathered in protest against a pro-Putin regional political leader after a rights activist was sentenced on extremism charges to four years in a penal colony.

Clashes broke out outside the court building in support of Fail Alsynov, who faced charged of ‘inciting ethnic hatred’.

Officers resorted to firing tear gas at the crowd and using their batons against the protestors.

Videos circulating online showed people shouting ‘Gas’ and running away during what has been described as the largest protest in all of Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The largest protest since the beginning of the war has erupted in Russia (Picture: RusNews / east2west news)

Riot police deployed teargas against the crowds

One clip showed a line of police lashing out with batons. In another, a woman was seen pleading with police to stop beating a person lying on the ground.

Another woman was filmed while yelling at an officer: ‘You, fascist! Are you going to fight with women? How are you not ashamed?’

Despite the freezing -17°C temperatures, more and more people gathered at the scene, chanting ‘Freedom’.

Many were seen flying Bashkir national flags. Bashkirs are an indigenous Turkic ethnic group with a long history of anti-colonial struggles.

The protest took place in the town of Baymak (Picture: AFP)

A protestor reacts after police used teargas to disperse the crowd (Picture: AFP)

The extraordinary scenes were in the town of Baymak – population 17,000 – as the authorities blocked the internet around the court in fear of an even larger popular uprising.

The crackdown and jailing of Alsynov is seen as a move by the Kremlin to annihilate any separatist, nationalist sentiment among the proud Bashkirs in the oil-rich region.

Such protests are also extremely rare in the country because of the risk of arrest over any gatherings which the authorities deem unauthorised.

Thousands of people have been detained in the past two years for opposing the war in Ukraine.

The clashes in Bashkortostan come just months before Russians will head to the polls to elect their next president.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

This is the biggest protest in Russia since Putin invaded Ukraine.