Greater than 2,500 folks had been detained at protests on Sunday in 29 cities throughout Russia in opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, in response to an impartial Russian-based protest monitor.
The OVD-Information protest monitoring group stated over 2,500 folks had been detained at protests throughout Siberia and Russia’s far east. Opposition activists posted movies exhibiting protests and arrests in cities throughout Russia.
Reuters was not capable of independently confirm the data. Reuters was unable to achieve spokespeople for Russia’s inside ministry.
“The screws are being totally tightened – basically we’re witnessing army censorship,” Maria Kuznetsova, OVD-Information’s spokeswoman, instructed Reuters by phone from Tbilisi.
“We’re seeing relatively massive protests at present even in Siberian cities the place we solely not often noticed such numbers of arrests,” Kuznetsova stated.
The inside ministry warned on Saturday that any try to carry unauthorised protests could be prevented and the organisers held to account.
A video posted on social media confirmed a protester on a sq. within the far japanese metropolis of Khabarovsk shouting: “No to battle – how are you not ashamed” earlier than two policemen detained him.
Police used loudspeakers to inform a small group of protesters in Khabarovsk: “Revered residents, you’re taking half in an unsanctioned public occasion. We demand you disperse.”
Reuters was not capable of independently confirm the publish. Russian state-controlled media was largely silent in regards to the anti-war protests.
Russia’s RIA information company confirmed footage of what seemed to be supporters of the Kremlin driving alongside the embankment in Moscow with Russian flags and displaying the “Z” and “V” markings utilized by Russian forces on tanks in Ukraine.
Patriarch Kirill, the pinnacle of the Russian Orthodox Church, stated Russian values had been being examined by the West which he stated supplied solely extreme consumption and the phantasm of freedom.
PUTIN RATINGS
Putin, Russia’s paramount chief since 1999, ordered what he casts as a particular army operation to defend Russian-speaking communities in opposition to persecution in Ukraine and to stop the US from utilizing Ukraine to threaten Russia.
The West has referred to as his arguments a baseless pretext for battle and imposed sanctions that goal to cripple the Russian economic system. America, Britain and another NATO members have provided arms to Ukraine.
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny had referred to as for protests on Sunday throughout Russia and the remainder of the world in opposition to the invasion launched by Russia on Feb. 24. Learn full story
About 2,000 folks attended an anti-war protest in Kazakhstan’s greatest metropolis Almaty, movies posted on social media confirmed. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the posts.
The group shouted slogans similar to “No to battle” and “Putin is a dickhead”, whereas waving Ukrainian flags.
Activists put blue and yellow balloons within the hand of a Lenin statue towering over the small sq. the place the rally passed off.
“Due to Putin, Russia now means battle for many individuals,” Navalny stated on Friday. “That’s not proper: it was Putin and never Russia that attacked Ukraine.”
Putin’s approval scores have jumped in Russia because the invasion, in response to Moscow-based pollsters.
Putin’s score rose 6 share factors to 70% within the week to Feb. 27, in response to state pollster VsTIOM. The FOM pollster, which offers analysis for the Kremlin, stated Putin’s score had risen 7 share factors to 71% in the identical week.
(Reuters)