The crackdown on anti-war protesters is unabated in Russia. At least 4,640 people were arrested on Sunday March 6 in 65 cities, bringing the number of arrests to more than 13,000 since the start of the Russian military operation on February 24, said OVD-Info, a Russian NGO. responsible for counting arbitrary arrests.
Despite intimidation from the authorities and the threat of heavy prison sentences, protest actions, albeit limited, have taken place daily for eleven days in different cities of the country. Imprisoned opponent Alexei Navalny, who is against intervention in Ukraine, this week called on Russians to meet every day in their city’s main square to demand peace in Ukraine.
Some 1,700 people were arrested in Moscow alone on Sunday, police said. According to OVD-Info, one of the leaders of the Memorial NGO, Oleg Orlov, and activist Svetlana Gannouchkina are among them. Several activists and NGOs posted videos on social media on Sunday showing brutal arrests with truncheons. The first arrests took place, time difference obliges, in the Far East and in Siberia. More than 200 people were arrested in particular in the large cities of Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg, still according to OVD-Info.
New repressive laws
To deter any criticism, the Russian authorities on Friday adopted a new law punishing “false information” about the activities of the Russian army in Ukraine. According to this text, the penalties incurred range from fines to fifteen years in prison. Russian and foreign media announced in the wake of suspending their activities in Russia.
Those protesting against the Russian military presence in Ukraine also routinely face fines, under a new article in the administrative code that prohibits public actions “discrediting the armed forces”. According to the Ria Novosti news agency, a resident of Siberia was the first victim of this new law: he was fined 60,000 rubles (450 euros) for having called for demonstrations against the intervention in Ukraine.
In recent years, dozens of protesters have also been sentenced to harsh prison terms for “violence against the police”a motif considered invented from scratch by many NGOs.