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LONDON — Greater than 3,500 individuals have been detained at protests throughout Russia on Sunday in opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, in keeping with information offered by the inside ministry.
Hundreds of protesters chanted “No to battle!” and “Disgrace on you!”, in keeping with movies posted on social media by opposition activists and bloggers.
Dozens of protesters within the Urals metropolis of Yekaterinburg have been proven being detained. One protester there was proven being overwhelmed on the bottom by police in riot gear. A mural within the metropolis displaying President Vladimir Putin was defaced.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm the footage and images on social media. Russia’s inside ministry stated 1,700 individuals had been detained in Moscow, 750 in St Petersburg, and 1,061 in different cities.
The inside ministry stated 5,200 individuals had taken half within the protests. The OVD-Data protest monitoring group stated it had documented the detention of at the very least 2,578 individuals in 49 completely different cities.
“The screws are being totally tightened — primarily we’re witnessing navy censorship,” Maria Kuznetsova, OVD-Data’s spokeswoman, stated by phone from Tbilisi.
“We’re seeing moderately large protests immediately, even in Siberian cities the place we solely hardly ever noticed such numbers of arrests.”
The final Russian protests with the same variety of arrests have been in January 2021, when 1000’s demanded the discharge of opposition chief Alexei Navalny after he was arrested on coming back from Germany the place he had been recovering from a nerve agent poisoning.
Some Russian state-controlled media carried quick experiences about Sunday’s protests however they didn’t function excessive in information bulletins.
Russia’s RIA information company stated the Manezhnaya Sq. in Moscow, adjoining the Kremlin, had been “liberated” by police, who had arrested some individuals of an unsanctioned protest in opposition to the navy operation in Ukraine.
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RIA additionally confirmed footage of what gave the impression 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 working in Ukraine.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, stated Russian values have been being examined by the West, which supplied solely extreme consumption and the phantasm of freedom.
Putin, Russia’s paramount chief since 1999, calls the invasion, launched on Feb. 24, a “particular navy operation”. He says it’s geared toward defending Ukraine’s Russian-speaking communities in opposition to persecution and stopping the US from utilizing Ukraine to threaten Russia.
The West has known as his arguments a baseless pretext for battle and imposed sanctions that goal to cripple the Russian financial system. The US, Britain, and another NATO members have provided arms to Ukraine.
Navalny had known as for protests on Sunday throughout Russia and the remainder of the world in opposition to the invasion.
About 2,000 individuals attended an anti-war protest in Kazakhstan’s greatest metropolis Almaty, in keeping with movies posted on social media. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the posts.
The group shouted slogans corresponding to “No to battle!” and obscenities directed at Putin whereas waving Ukrainian flags.
Blue and yellow balloons have been positioned within the hand of a statue of Lenin towering over the small sq. the place the rally came about.
The Russian state polling company VTsIOM stated Putin’s approval score had risen 6 share factors to 70% within the week to Feb. 27. FOM, which supplies analysis for the Kremlin, stated his score had risen 7 share factors to 71% in the identical interval.
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