From the editor
Alexei Navalny’s return to Russia has been a success if measured in terms of the response to his call for protests today. Large crowds turned out in more than 100 cities across the country, with an estimated 40,000 people protesting in Moscow. Over 2,400 people have been detained and the numbers are still being tallied by the OVD-Info website that tracks political arrests. The day started in the far east with police charging at protesters in Vladivostok and ended with Moscow police beating and kicking people who had walked through the capital to the Matrosskaya Tishina jail where Navalny is being held. People also fought back, including by pelting police and their vehicles with snowballs.
Large crowds filled the streets of Moscow today
Activists considered leaders of the protest movement were rounded up, often at their homes or as soon as they came out. Navalny’s wife Yulia was detained and held for most of the day. His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh was detained yesterday and jailed for nine days for calling for protests. Navalny’s aide Georgy Alburov, who flew the drone that took pictures of Vladimir Putin’s palace, was jailed for 10 days. Another aide, Lyubov Sobol, was detained and fined 250,000 roubles ($3,333) – then released (because she is the mother of a young child), only to be detained again today when she came out to the protest in Moscow and gave a TV interview. As of this evening she is awaiting yet another trial but has made a video thanking people for overcoming their fear and coming out.
Many of Navalny’s regional coordinators were also detained, including Semyon Kochkin in Cheboksary, who was jailed for seven days after police entered his flat through the window. Navalny’s coordinator in Kurgan, Alexei Shvarts, was given a 30-day jail sentence via a Skype hearing. His coordinator in Moscow, Oleg Stepanov, was jailed for five days. One of Navalny’s lawyers, Vladlen Los, was jailed for three days and also ordered to be deported back to his home country of Belarus, and banned from Russia until the end of 2023. When another lawyer, Mansur Gilmanov, came to assist Los at the police station, he himself was assaulted by police and then jailed for five days for “disobeying police”.
Protesters did not lose their sense of humour, but shouted original slogans such as “Aqua disco!” – referring to a room in Putin’s palace described by Navalny, as well as the traditional favourites “Putin’s a thief!” and “Down with the tsar!” The large numbers of people ranging from children – many of whom were detained – to the elderly clearly felt a sense of solidarity in opposing Putin’s brutality and also expressing outrage at his stolen wealth. Many wore masks for protection from coronavirus but there was little they could do when stuffed into police buses. Some were severely injured by police, with many receiving head injuries from batons.
Navalny aide Leonid Volkov, who fled Russia to avoid prosecution and is now in Germany, announced at the end of the day that protests should resume next weekend. Navalny is due to be put on trial on Feb. 2, possibly facing years in prison if Putin decides it’s the safest move. It feels that anger in Russia will only intensify after the scenes today of police attacking people including young children and women indiscriminately. The indefatigable protesters in Belarus have set Russians an example. Putin has not solved his problem today – it is only growing.
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Invaluable commentary and analysis, thank you. My knowledge of Russia is limited to Tolstoy, who seems to be a cultural touchstone for some of the protestors? Times seem to be a changing though.