More than 2,500 protesters have been arrested during anti-war protests in 49 Russian cities, according to an independent Russia-based protest watchdog. group.
Thousands of protesters against the Russian invasion of Ukraine chanted “No to war!” and “Shame on you!” according to the videos posted on social media by opposition activists and bloggers. Surveillance of OVD-Info events group says 2,502 people had been arrested.
Dozens of protesters in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg was shown in detention. A protester was shown there being beaten on the floor by the font in riot gear. A fresco in the city showing that President Vladimir Putin has been degraded.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the images and photographs on social media or to contact the Russian Interior Ministry for comment.
“The screws are being fully tightened – we are basically witnessing military censorship,” OVD-Info spokeswoman Maria Kuznetsova told Reuters by phone from Tbilisi.
“We rather see big demonstrations today, even in Siberian cities where theon has rarely seen such numbers of arrests.”
The ministry warned on on Saturday that any attempt to organize unauthorized demonstrations would be prevented and the organizers held accountable. It did not immediately release data on arrests.
The police used loudspeakers to tell a small group of protesters in Khabarovsk: “Respected citizens, you participate in an unauthorized public event. We demand you scatter.”
Some state-controlled Russians media broadcast brief reports on the protests.
Russian RIA news the agency said the place Manezhnaya in Moscow, adjoining the Kremlin, had been “liberated” by the police who had stopped a few participants of an unauthorized demonstration against the military transaction in Ukraine.
Church support
RIA also showed pictures of what appeared to be supporters of the Kremlin rolling along the embankment in Moscow with Russian flags and displaying the “Z” and “V” marks used by Russian forces on tanks operating in Ukraine.
Patriarch Cyril, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said that Russian values were being tested by the West, which only offered excessive consumption and the illusion of freedom.
Putin, Russia’s supreme leader since 1999, calls the invasion launched on February 24, a “special military transaction. ” He says it aims to defend the Russian-speaking communities of Ukraine against persecution and prevent the United States from using Ukraine menace Russia.
The West called his arguments a baseless pretext for the war and imposed sanctions aimed at crippling Russia economy. The United States, Britain and some other NATO members have supplied arms to Ukraine.
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny had called for protests on Sunday through Russia and the rest of the world against the invasion.
About 2,000 people attended a demonstration against the war in most grand from Kazakhstan city Almaty, according to the videos posted on social media. Reuters was unable to independently verify the postings.
The crowd shouted slogans such as “No to war!” and obscenities directed at Putin while waving Ukrainian flags.
blue and yellow balloons were placed in the main of a statue of Imposing Lenin over the small place where the rally took place.
Russian state polling agency VTsIOM said Putin’s approval rating had risen by 6%. points at 70% in the week to February 27. FOM, which provides research for the Kremlin, said his rating had risen by 7% points at 71% in the same period.
