At least 1,386 people have been arrested in Russia during protests held Wednesday against the partial mobilization of civilians ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to fight the war in Ukraine, a non-governmental organization (NGO) said today.
“At least 1,386 people have been detained in 38 cities,” independent organization OVD-Info, which is tracking the arrests and has already been declared a “foreign agent” by Russian authorities, said today on the social network Telegram.
On Wednesday afternoon, OVD-Info reported that more than 1,113 people had already been arrested during protests in 38 Russian cities.
The human rights organization reported detainees in Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Ufa, Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk, Ulan-Ude, Arkhangelsk, Korolev, Voronezh, Zheleznogorsk, Izhevsk, Tomsk, Sam Petrozavoden , Surgut, Smolensk, Belgorod and other cities.
According to OVD-Info, the police acted violently against the demonstrators and several journalists were among those arrested.
The Moscow prosecutor’s office has warned that it will punish the organization and participation in illegal actions with up to 15 years in prison.
It will also be punished administratively or criminally for broadcasting calls to participate in illegal actions or to perform other illegal acts on social networks, and for calling on minors to participate in illegal acts.
According to the latest data from OVD-Info, 509 people were detained in Moscow and at least 541 in St. Petersburg, the country’s second largest city.
On Wednesday, Russia’s president stated that the number of people called up for active military service would be determined by the Defense Ministry, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised interview that 300,000 reservists with relevant combat and service experience would initially be selected. will be mobilized.
In addition to calling for protests, Russia has also experienced a strong exodus of civilians since Putin ordered the military to invade Ukraine nearly seven months ago.
In his address to the country on Wednesday, announcing a partial mobilization of reservists, Vladimir Putin also expressed a veiled nuclear threat to Russian enemies of the West.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on Feb. 24 has already resulted in more than 13 million people having fled — more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.4 million to European countries — according to the most recent UN data, which rank this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the international community at large, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and to impose political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN presented 5,916 dead civilians and 8,616 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, stressing that these numbers are far below the actual number.
Source: DN
