Russian security forces have already arrested more than a thousand people in Wednesday’s nationwide protests called by a peace movement against the partial mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine, announced by President Vladimir Putin.
“At 18:36 GMT (19:36 Lisbon time), there were already more than 1,113 people detained in 38 cities,” said the independent civil rights organization OVD-Info, which monitors arrests and was declared an “external agent.” . In Russia.
The number of arrests is increasing rapidly: the organization has registered detainees in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Ufa, Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk, Ulan-Ude, Arkhangelsk, Korolev, Voronezh, Zheleznogorsk, Izhevsk, Tomsk, Salavat, Tyumen, Volgograd, Petrozavodsk, Samara, Surgut, Smolensk, Belgorod and other cities.
The Moscow prosecutor has warned that organization and participation in illegal actions will be punished with up to 15 years in prison.
The dissemination of calls to participate in illegal actions or to carry out other illegal actions on social networks, as well as making appeals to minors to participate in illegal actions, will also be penalized administratively or criminally.
In the capital there were at least 409 detainees, and in Saint Petersburg, at least 444, according to the same source.
In the center of Moscow, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Arbat Street (perhaps the most famous street in Moscow and the oldest, dating from the 15th century), where writers, plastic artists and musicians historically met), the arrests Police began rioting as soon as the protest started.
The demonstrators chanted “No to war,” to applause, and “Putin to the trenches.”
A demonstrator with a protest banner was immediately detained by police officers, who dragged him outside, while other demonstrators shouted “The police are the shame of Russia”.
“Why are you doing this if you, tomorrow, are also going to be sent to war in Ukraine?” Some of the security forces asked.
“Die for what, for what?” they added.
Among the slogans, “Life for our children” was also heard, referring to statements by the head of the Defense Committee of the Duma or Chamber of Deputies, Andrei Kartapolov, that the first mobilized will be non-commissioned officers in the reserve under 35 years of age and officers under 45 years of age.
Citizens tried to form human chains to avoid arrests, while the police created cordons to stop protesters, whose intention was to walk down Arbat Street to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Shortly after, law enforcement began to disperse the protesters and pushed them to the beginning of the pedestrian street.
Putin’s decree stipulated that the Defense Ministry would determine the number of people conscripted for active military service, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised interview that 300,000 reservists with relevant combat and service experience would initially be mobilized.
In addition to calling protests, Russia has also seen a massive exodus of citizens since Putin ordered the army to invade Ukraine nearly seven months ago.
In his address to the country this morning, announcing a partial mobilization of reservists, the Russian president also issued a veiled nuclear threat to Russia’s enemies in the West.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.4 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which places this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Putin with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war, which today entered its day 210, 5,916 dead civilians and 8,616 wounded, emphasizing that these figures are well below the real ones.
Source: TSF
