Russian police have arrested hundreds of protesters rallying against the Kremlin’s decision to call up thousands of extra troops to fight in Ukraine, as reported by British broadcaster BCC.
The protests come amid Russian president Vladimir Putin’s order on Wednesday, 21 September, for a partial mobilization as Russian forces face a series of setbacks in their invasion of Ukraine.
According to OVD-Info, more than 1 1300 people have been detained in 38 cities across Russia, with the majority of the detainees being in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
It said those figures included at least 502 in Moscow and 524 in St Petersburg.
The largest number arrested was in Yekaterinburg, a major city east of Moscow. Dozens were also detained in Irkutsk and other Siberian cities, and Moscow.
The Moscow prosecutor’s office on Wednesday,21 September, warned that calls on the internet to join unauthorised street protests, or participation in them, could incur up to 15 years in jail. They could be prosecuted under laws against discrediting the armed forces, spreading “fake news” about Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, or encouraging minors to protest.
Russia’s tough penalties for spreading “disinformation” about the Ukraine war and police harassment of anti-Putin activists have made public anti-war protests rare.
But the anti–war opposition group Vesna called for widespread protests, and on Telegram it reported many arrests across Russia. A video clip from Yekaterinburg showed police violently bundling protesters into a bus.
The protests appeared relatively small. Vesna called its action «no to mogilisation» – a play on words, because «mogila» in Russian means grave.
According to the news media The Guardian, the Vesna opposition movement called for protests, saying:
«Thousands of Russian men, our fathers, brothers and husbands, will be thrown into the meat grinder of the war. What will they be dying for?»
Protestors have also gathered outside the Russian embassy in Warsaw, Poland, to protest against the mobilization order, informed news media The Guardian.
In #Warsaw, in front of the Russian embassy, an action against mobilization is also taking place. Protesters chant “Putin is #Russia‘s enemy”. pic.twitter.com/8AyKqkraTL
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 21, 2022