Russian police on Thursday detained more than 1,600 Russians who protested against Russian troops’ military operation in Ukraine, while authorities threatened to block media reports containing what Moscow described as “false information”. At least 44 cities have registered demonstrations against the Russian offensive against Ukrainian territory.
In cautious but unusual acts of dissent, Russian pop stars, journalists, a television comedian and a football player opposed the online war after President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday. 24). Follow the news about the war in Ukraine live here.
By 1939, police had detained 1,667 people at rallies in 53 cities, said rights monitor OVD-Info, easily the highest count since last year’s smashing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s network, which ushered in an ice age in activism.
The protesters defied a warning issued on Thursday by the Investigative Committee, a sort of Russian response to the FBI, which explicitly threatened criminal action and even imprisonment for people who convened or participated in protests.
“I was detained on leaving my house,” Marina Litvinovich, an activist from Moscow, wrote on Telegram after calling the Russians in a Facebook post Thursday morning to protest later that night.
“We will clean up this mess for years to come. Not even us. But our children and grandchildren,” she said in announcing the protest. “All we see is the agony of a dying man. Unfortunately, Russia is in agony.”
Hundreds of people gathered in cities like Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, chanting slogans like “No to war!” and holding makeshift boards. A person waved a Ukrainian flag.
Moscow police said they had detained 600 people. Authorities in the capital have banned any form of protest, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.
From the prison where he attended a hearing, Navalny condemned the war as an attempt by the Kremlin to distract from domestic problems such as poverty, although it is unclear whether he understood the full scale of the invasion behind bars.
“I am against this war… It was launched to hide the theft of Russian citizens… and this war will lead to a huge number of victims on both sides, ruined lives and a continuation of the impoverishment of Russian citizens,” the anti-corruption activist said in pictures. of the statements transmitted by its spokesperson.
‘Fear and Pain’
Demonstrations of opposition to the war have often not been openly directed at Putin, whose verbal attack on Ukraine in a speech on Monday set the tone for Thursday’s attack.
But dissent came from unusually dominant figures like Ivan Urgant, one of Russia’s most famous television comedians, who wrote on Instagram: “Fear and pain. NO TO WAR”.
Maxim Galkin, television presenter and singer, said: “I have been in contact with my relatives and friends in Ukraine since this morning! I can’t explain in words what I feel! How is this possible! No war can be justified! No to war!”
Others included Fedor Smolov, a football player for the Russian national football team, former no. 1 tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
Some of them and other Russians posted a black and white photo on Instagram to express opposition. Russia’s telecoms regulator warned media organizations on Thursday not to release what it described as “false information” about Moscow’s massive military operation against Ukraine and threatened to block offensive content.
Russia’s state communications regulator Roskomnadzor said in a statement that it considered the information from official Russian sources to be reliable.
Source: CNN Brasil
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