Nearly 3,500 people were arrested in Russia on Saturday, Jan. 23, after opposition demonstrations took place in about 100 cities demanding the authorities release opposition leader Navalny. The European Union and the United States immediately condemned the crackdown on these rallies and demonstrations. Moscow denounced Washington for interfering in its internal affairs.
Nearly 3,500 protesters were arrested yesterday in Russian opposition protests in about 100 cities called by jailed opposition leader Alexeï Navalny, AFP reported. Authorities on Sunday were simultaneously investigating violence on both the protesters’ and police sides.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in about 100 Russian cities from Moscow to Vladivostok in the Far East on Saturday to demand the release of Mr. Navalny, a sworn enemy of the Kremlin and an anti-corruption crusader.
These unauthorized demonstrations have led to arrests, sometimes brutal and violent, and clashes between protesters and police. Violent clashes occurred mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where opposition demonstrations were the largest.
OVD-Info, a non-governmental organization that specializes in observing protest demonstrations, said Sunday that nearly 3,500 people were arrested nationwide during those rallies, including 1,360 in Moscow and 523 in the country’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg.
Russian opposition people chanted “Putin the thief!” during the demonstrations , “Navalny, we are with you!” and “Freedom for political prisoners!” and other slogans.
Several clashes between police and civilians took place in Moscow yesterday afternoon, with Pushkin Square being the main battleground: police beat demonstrators with batons and also threw snowballs at them. Opposition leader Navalny’s wife was also detained by Moscow police for several hours yesterday.
EU diplomatic and security representative Borrelli tweeted on Saturday to express regret over Russia’s big arrests and excessive repression, and he said a meeting of EU ministers will be held next Monday to discuss whether to adopt new sanctions against Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. Embassy for interfering in Russia’s internal affairs by posting “messages of support for the demonstrations” on social networks and “encouraging violent actions.
Russian opposition leader Navalny, 44, suddenly collapsed on a domestic flight last August and was taken to a hospital in Omsk, where he failed to wake up and was transferred to Berlin, Germany, where he was found to have been poisoned with a nerve agent.
On January 17, 2021, Navalny was discharged from the hospital and returned to Russia on a German flight, where he was arrested at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport. The Russian Investigative Committee said it was “conducting an investigation into his massive fraud,” which could last up to 10 years. The following day, Russian authorities ordered a 30-day pretrial detention during a court hearing at the police station where he was being held.
On Jan. 19, the Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation released a documentary of the investigation, recorded while he was convalescing in Germany, accusing Putin of using bribe money to secretly build a $1 billion luxury coastal palace. The next day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the report as “nonsense.
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