Dozens of demonstrators have reportedly been detained as Russians nationwide took to the streets on January 31 for a second-straight weekend of protests demanding the release of jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny amid a sweeping crackdown on his supporters.
Protesters in the Far East and Siberia braved subfreezing temperatures and a heavy riot police presence to start the day’s demonstrations, which are expected to take place in cities across the country.
OVD-Info reported more than 260 arrests early in the day’s events, including at least 95 people in the Far East city of Vladivostok and several journalists in other towns and cities.
The independent monitor also reported that activists in several cities across Russia had been visited by police ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations.
Video clips from Vladivostok, where hundreds of demonstrators were denied access to the city center, showed participants linking hands and chanting “Putin is a thief!” and “My Russia is in prison!” on the ice of Amur Bay. The demonstrations there ended after about two hours.
Russian authorities were bracing for a groundswell of protests, with police issuing warnings that participants at “illegal” rallies will face criminal charges for violating coronavirus-related health restrictions.
Last weekend, almost 4,000 people were detained in demonstrations in more than 110 cities in some of the largest anti-government rallies in years.
Since then, authorities have swiftly moved against Navalny’s closest allies, the media, and common supporters in a bid to quell an outpouring of dissent through a wave of detentions and acts of intimidation.
Navalny’s team is planning rallies in 142 cities across the country’s 11 time zones, with the largest beginning in Moscow at noon local time.
Live Stream Of Protests Across (Current Time, in Russian)
In the capital, protesters are being called to gather in Lubyanka Square outside the headquarters of the FSB security agency and Staraya Square, where the presidential administration has its offices.
The first arrest in Moscow was reported about two hours before the rally.
Ahead of the protests, Moscow police had said they would shut down much of the central part of city, including seven subway stations.
Calls for Navalny to be released have echoed from the streets of Russia to Western capitals, with the European Union, United States, and others demanding he be set free.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on January 27 that the United States was “deeply concerned” about Navalny and was considering actions in response to his detention and the alleged use of a nerve agent against him over the summer.
The European Union is also mulling a raft of measures against Russia if Navalny is not released, including additional sanctions.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, is expected in Moscow next week to urge the government to free detained protesters and Navalny.
The 44-year-old anti-corruption crusader was detained on January 17 upon his returned from Germany, where he had been recovering from a nerve agent poisoning that he and supporters say was carried out by the FSB on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has dismissed extensive evidence that FSB agents poisoned Navalny and rejected calls for his release.
A day after his return to Russia a makeshift court at a police station ordered Navalny to remain in jail for 30 days pending trial, set to start on February 2. Prosecutors claim he broke the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence in an embezzlement case that the European Court for Human Rights ruled was “arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable.”
The court hearing set to begin on February 2 will consider converting the suspended sentence into a 3 1/2 year prison term because of the alleged parole violation while Navalny was recovering in Germany.
In a letter posted on his website on January 28 after a court rejected an appeal against his pretrial detention, the outspoken critic of Putin called on Russians to cast aside fear.
“Come on out, don’t be afraid of anything. Nobody wants to live in a country where tyranny and corruption reign. The majority is on our side,” Navalny said.
Even behind bars, Navalny has proven to be Putin’s most persistent and vocal critic.
A day after his arrest at the airport, Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation released a nearly two-hour video investigation claiming that wealthy Russians had spent some $1.3 billion on a palatial estate for Putin on the Black Sea coast.
The group’s video, with images and apparent design plans of the lavish property, has been viewed more than 100 million times.
The Kremlin has denied Putin or his family owns the palace. But in a twist, on January 30, Arkady Rotenberg, a childhood friend of the president who co-owns a sprawling construction company with his brother and who has been under Western sanctions for the past five years, said he owns the lavish Black Sea mansion.
He said he acquired it “several years ago,” without offering specifics.
With last weekend’s protests some of the biggest the country has seen in years, Russian authorities this week ramped up pressure on Navalny supporters in an effort to limit their ability to mobilize.
A Moscow court placed Oleg Navalny, Aleksei’s brother, Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, and Oleg Stepanov, the coordinator of Navalny’s Moscow headquarters, under house arrest until March 23.
A member of the Pussy Riot protest group, Maria Alyokhina, and the head of the Alliance of Doctors trade union, Anastasia Vaislyeva, were also ordered under house arrest for two months.
All were detained and charged with violating restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic by calling for mass protests.
Shortly before the January 31 protests were to begin, Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, was arrested again while still serving the last minutes of a nine-day sentence at a Moscow detention facility. Her lawyer said Yarmysh was arrested for violating coronavirus restrictions.
Russian investigators have also opened a criminal case against Leonid Volkov, a close Navalny ally, for allegedly urging teenagers to take part in the protests.
Earlier in the week, masked police carried out searches at the homes of Navalny supporters and other properties linked to him, detaining several people. One raid targeted an apartment rented by Navalny’s wife, Yulia.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Current Time, AP, AFP, and Reuters
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
