In Russia, more than 40 locals have started an “armed rebellion against police officers”. The police officers had orders to prevent the Buryatiya locals from illegally mining jade. This is reported by Anton Gerashchenko, former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, via the Network X.
He writes, “The locals were involved in the illegal mining of jade to sell to China. They started shooting at the police officers who arrived to arrest them. The police officers shot back and managed to arrest 27 people. (…) It looks like the laws of violence now prevail in Russia – if China is willing to pay more, the chronically poor population would be ready to go into an armed struggle for it.” Gerashchenko also posts a video purporting to show the clash.
This information comes from a party to the conflict and has not yet been independently verified / confirmed. For this reason, the report must be evaluated with reservations. In war, it can be advantageous for parties to make false statements about the course of the conflict in order to strengthen their own position or weaken the position of the opponent.
Image: Kremlin.ru, Vladimir Putin (2022-12-14), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)
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