Massive Protests Sweep Across Russia Demanding Release Of Navalny

Topline

Tens of thousands of Russian protesters flooded into the streets throughout the country on Saturday to support jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, which resulted in scattered violent clashes between police officers and demonstrators and reports of more than 1,500 protesters being arrested.

Key Facts

According to the Washington Post, protests have sprung up in nearly 70 cities and towns across Russia.

In the largest demonstration, in the capital city of Moscow, an estimated crowd of at least 40,000 people gathered to protest Navalny’s imprisonment.

In Pushkin Square, located in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow, police directed protesters to disperse, with loudspeakers blaring, “Dear citizens, this event is illegal. We are doing everything to ensure your security and urgently ask you to leave.”

OVD-Info, an activist group that tracks arrest data, reported 1,090 detentions nationwide as of 4 p.m. Moscow time, and the Post reported that upwards of 1,600 people have been arrested.

Yulia Navalnaya, Aleksei Navalny’s wife, was taken into custody at the Moscow rally, posting a photo of herself in a police wagon on Instagram.

Key Background:

In late August, Navalny, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has been imprisoned multiple times in the past few years for organizing anti-Kremlin protests, fell suddenly ill on a flight from Moscow to Tomsk. The plane made an emergency landing, and Navalny slipped into a coma after being admitted to a Siberian hospital. It was soon determined that he had, “without a doubt,” been poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. Despite Moscow’s insistence that they were not involved in the poisoning, many in the West condemned the attack. After recovering over several months, Navalny flew home to Moscow last weekend and was immediately arrested at passport control. Russian authorities claimed that Navalny violated the parole terms from a suspended sentence he received six years ago. On Monday, it was announced that he would be jailed for an initial period of 30 days. Navalny immediately called on his supporters to protest. According to a New York Times report on Saturday, “there were mounting signals that the Russian government intended to respond to the protests with a new wave of repression.” 

Crucial Quote: 

“I was never a big supporter of Navalny, and yet I understand perfectly well that this is a very serious situation,” Vitaliy Blazhevich, 57, a Russian university teacher, told the New York Times. “There’s always hope that something will change.”

Big Number:

27%. Putin allowed Navalny on a ballot just once, in 2013, when Navalny entered into Moscow’s mayoral race. He captured 27% of the vote, finishing second behind a Kremlin loyalist. According to the Times, “that result so unnerved the Kremlin” that Navalny was then placed under house arrest on fraud and embezzlement charges.

Further Reading:

Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Out Of Coma And Responsive (Forbes) 

Aleksei Navalny Protests: Live Updates as Mass Rallies Sweep Across Russia (NYT)

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