Ukraine crisis: More than 5,500 people have been detained in various anti-war demonstrations in Russia.
Moscow:
A protest watchdog group on Sunday detained more than 2,000 people in anti-war protests held in 48 Russian cities, as people defied authorities to show their anger over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
More than 5,500 people have been detained in various anti-war protests since the offensive began on Thursday, according to the OVD-Info monitor, which has documented Russia’s crackdown on protests over the years.
In Moscow, riot police often chased down protesters, some of whom carried hand-written placards with peace signs and anti-war slogans in Russian and Ukrainian. Some people had “enough” written on the masks.
A reporter for independent television channel Dozhad was arrested during the protests despite showing his recognition to the police and wearing a press vest.
Outside the upmarket Gostiny Dvor department store in downtown St. Petersburg, hundreds of anti-war protesters stood together, folded arms and shouted slogans.
Sunday’s protest coincided with the seventh anniversary of the assassination of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.
A Reuters eyewitness said some of the arrests in Moscow took place at an improvised monument just outside the Kremlin, where Nemtsov was shot. “Not for war!” One of the protesters shouted as he was being dragged away by the police.
Nemtsov was a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, Moscow’s support for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, which ultimately led Putin to label a “special operation” to defend the two separatist territories. , although their troops are fighting in wider Ukraine.
Ukraine’s western allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions in response to Russia’s land, sea and air aggression.
Putin on Sunday ordered his military command to put nuclear-armed forces on high alert as Ukrainian fighters guarding the city of Kharkiv said they had repulsed an attack by attacking Russian troops.
Thousands marched across Europe on Sunday to protest Russia’s invasion, with 100,000 protesting in Berlin in solidarity with Ukraine.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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