Kremlin meets Russian protesters with fiercest crackdown in years
Thousands of people in Moscow and across Russia who took to the streets Sunday were met with the harshest show of force the country has seen in recent years.
Protesters throughout the country had gathered for the second weekend in a row to support jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who has been held by Russian authorities since mid-January.
More than 5,000 people were detained in at least 85 cities as of late Sunday, according to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info a record since 2011.
In Moscow, the capital, more than 1,600 people were arrested, including Navalny’s wife Yulia, though she was later released.
Russian Government Arrests Thousands During Alexei Navalny Protests
Authorities in Russia have detained more than 5,000 people across 85 cities in the country on Sunday, as reported by
CNN. According to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info, this is the most arrested since 2011, as the Russian government clamps down on protests demanding the release of politician Alexei Navalny, the jailed critic of Vladimir Putin.
The second weekend of protests saw thousands of Russians from Vladivostok to Saint Petersburg voice their displeasure with the Kremlin and show support for Navalny. Events were held in a total of 120 cities across the large nation that spans 11 time zones, with each beginning at noon local time. Navalny has been held since he was arrested upon arrival in Russia on January 17, following months spent recovering in Germany after he was poisoned with the powerful nerve agent Novichok. The opposition leader has accused the Russian government of being behind the pois
Wife of Putin critic Alexey Navalny among thousands detained as police clamp down on rallies
The wife of opposition leader Alexey Navalny was detained Sunday in Moscow, according to the Navalny team, as she joined protesters across the country in rallying in her husband’s name.
“Yulia Navalnaya was detained at the protest! Freedom for the Navalnys!” said a tweet from Navalny’s team.
According to OVD-Info, an independent site that monitors arrests, more than 4,100 people have been detained so far across Russia over the unsanctioned protests, including 1,080 in Moscow and 796 in St. Petersburg.
The Russia opposition leader’s team announced the end of protests in Moscow on Sunday afternoon. “Today’s protest is over, but we continue to fight for Alexey Navalny’s freedom,” the team posted on their Telegram channel at 6:20 p.m. local time, adding that the “next stop” would be on February 2.
Thousands detained in Russia amid rallies for Alexey Navalny
Record numbers of protesters were detained in Russia on Sunday, as demonstrations erupted across the country in support of detained opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
At least 5,045 people were detained, with more than 1,600 in Moscow alone. That marks a record-high in detentions since 2011, when OVD-Info, an independent site that monitors arrests, started recording such figures.
Among those detained on Sunday was Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who was later released.
Navalny’s team has said that the “next stop” for demonstrations will be on Tuesday, when a Moscow court considers Navalny’s case on fraud charges and establishes whether his suspended sentence should be replaced with a real jail term.