At least 1,054 people were arrested this Wednesday in Russia during improvised demonstrations against the partial mobilization for the offensive in Ukraine, announced this morning by President Vladimir Putin, according to an NGO.
According to OVD-Info, an organization specialized in counting arrests, the demonstrations took place in at least 38 cities in the country. These are the largest protests in Russia since those that followed the announcement of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine at the end of February.
In Moscow, at least 50 arrests in one of the central arteries of the capital. In St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, police brought a bus full of arrested people downtown.
The protesters chanted “No to war!” and “No to the mobilization!”.
“Why are you serving Putin?
“Everyone is scared. I am for peace and I don’t want to have to shoot. But it is very dangerous to go out now, otherwise there would be a lot more people,” said Vasily, a protester in St. Petersburg. Fedorov, a student who wears a pacifist emblem on his chest.
Alexei Zavarki, 60, laments the immediate police response to the demonstrations. “I came to participate, but it seems that everyone has already joined,” he said, before adding: “I don’t know where we are going, this regime has signed its death sentence, it is destroying the youth.”
“Why are you serving Putin? A man who has been sitting on his throne for twenty years!” shouted another protester in the direction of police.
“Why is my future decided for me?”
“I fear for myself, for my brother, who is 25 years old and has done his military service. He can be summoned, ”explains Oksana Sidorenko, a student. “Why is my future decided for me?”
Alina Skvortsova, 20, hopes that the Russians will begin to “understand” the nature of the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine. “As soon as they really understand, they will go out on the streets, despite their fear.”
In an address to the nation on Wednesday morning, Vladimir Putin decreed a partial mobilization of Russian reservists for the offensive in Ukraine and said he was ready to use “all means” in his arsenal against the West.
Source: BFM TV
