Massive protests took place across Russia on Saturday in support of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin. Navalny was arrested last Sunday after returning to Moscow from Germany, where he was treated for poisoning allegedly related to the Kremlin five months earlier.
According to Reuters, about 40,000 people participated in the demonstrations in Moscow, although the police gave this incorrect number, estimating the crowd at 4,000. Several thousand more participated in cities across the country, from Yakutsk in the northeast to St. Petersburg in the west, and about 3,000 protesters were arrested in all.
The protesters were met by a strong police presence – and government officials asked citizens to stay at home, arguing that the protests were not properly authorized.
“Respected citizens, the current event is illegal,” the police reportedly announced during the demonstration in Moscow. “We are doing everything to ensure your safety.”
Few protesters have heeded these warnings, and the number of people arrested in protests in Moscow, St. Petersburg and some 70 other cities has increased to at least 3,000, according to reports by the human rights monitoring group OVD-Info. This includes about 1,100 people in Moscow alone, starting at 11:30 pm Moscow time on Saturday.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, was among those arrested in this weekend’s protests. The heads of his party’s regional offices were also detained before the protests, as well as members of Navalny’s team, including his press secretary, Kira Yarmysh.
Navalny’s arrest – and the arrests of his team – galvanized a tremendous mass movement. The size of the protests in Moscow recalls the summer of 2019, when at least 60,000 people demonstrated in that city to demand fair elections. (Navalny was also arrested before this move.)
Although many of the protesters were supporters of Navalny, others said they were more vocal because they wanted a radical end to Putin’s authoritarian regime.
“I was never a big supporter of Navalny, but I fully understand that this is a very serious situation,” Vitaliy Blazhevich – who, at 57, was one of the most important participants in the demonstration – told the New York Times.
“Unless we continue to leave [to protest], the problem in this country will never go away, ”Natalya Krainova, a former teacher, told the Guardian. “And that problem is Putin.”
Regardless of their motivation, in many places, protesters were met with a swift and aggressive police force.
Moscow video, for example, shows policemen dressed in riot gear hitting protesters with batons. Dozens of protesters in that city were arrested in front of the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center, where Navalny is being held.
As night fell, the police threw smoke grenades into central Moscow and the protesters responded with snowballs, according to reporter Alec Luhn.
The demonstrations were also marked by their enormous geographical diversity. On Twitter, Atlantic reporter Anne Applebaum collected scenes of major protests – composed largely of young people, many of them waving Russian flags – in the cities of Irkutsk, Novosirbirsk, Vladivostok, Tomsk and Yakutsk.
Yakutsk is in eastern Siberia, while Vladivostok abuts the Sea of Japan. In a Siberian winter, these protesters also faced extremely cold temperatures, with temperatures close to -60 ° F in some places.
The fact that the protests were so widespread and that they involve Russians of all ages is indicative of Navalny’s appeal and the ability to mobilize supporters – especially young people – according to the Washington Post.
In recent years, Putin has taken steps to repress dissenters more aggressively, with new laws making it more difficult to organize protests. The Russians who demonstrated on Saturday could be arrested, among other consequences.
Artyom, a university student who protested, told the Guardian that he and his classmates were threatened with serious academic consequences, which he said would mean expulsion if they participate.
It appears that Putin will remain in power, despite public opposition seen on Saturday. A recent change in the Russian constitution would allow Putin to retain power for another 15 years.
Navalny is the leader of the Russian opposition movement
In August, Navalny fell ill at a Siberian airport before boarding a flight to Moscow. His team, concerned that he was not receiving adequate care in Russia, partnered with a humanitarian group that transported him to Germany for treatment. There, doctors tracked down the cause of his illness, which turned out to be novichok, a deadly nervous agent that the Russian government often uses.
As Alex Ward of Vox wrote, Navalny always promised that he would return to Russia, even as he continued his criticisms of Germany’s Putin – including directly accusing the Kremlin of trying to kill him in YouTube videos seen more than 40 million times.
When Navalny arrived at Berlin airport on January 17 for his trip home, he said he was not afraid, although Russian authorities threatened to arrest him on his return. Hundreds of supporters violated anti-protest laws by receiving their plane at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. Instead, the plane was diverted to Sheremetyevo airport, where Navalny was arrested at passport control.
The official charge he faces is failure to attend a probation hearing, linked to a 2014 embezzlement case. Navalny claimed that these charges are politically motivated. However, if the charges persist, he could face years in prison.
His most recent arrest comes after years of attempts by the Kremlin to stifle his opposition and dissuade Navalny from returning home, including putting him on his federal wanted list and claiming he avoided overseas inspectors, as Ward wrote:
This kind of thing is nothing new for Navalny. As mentioned, he was arrested before – and even poisoned before – so it is possible that he will eventually be released and return to leading Russia’s anti-Putin movement. Sometimes the Kremlin just wants to remind Navalny who is in charge and slow down its work in a way that tries to maintain the illusion of Russian democracy.
But it is also possible that Putin has it, especially as he seeks to remain in power for the rest of his life. Removing his main political enemy would certainly make such a ploy easier, although it may attract condemnation from other nations, including the United States recently led by President-elect Joe Biden.
Navalny received support from US officials. Hours after the arrest of Navalny, new National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted a statement condemning the arrest of the Putin critic. “Sir. Navalny must be released immediately and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held responsible,” he wrote.
And Rebecca Ross, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Moscow, tweeted on Saturday that “The United States supports everyone’s right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. The measures taken by the Russian authorities are suppressing those rights. “
We are watching reports of protests in 38 Russian cities, arrests of more than 350 peaceful protesters and journalists. The United States supports everyone’s right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. The measures taken by the Russian authorities are suppressing those rights.
– Rebecca Ross (@USEmbRuPress) January 23, 2021
It is not clear how effective a US response will be, however. Relations between Washington and Moscow – already cold – have deteriorated further since an invasion by US federal agencies was linked to Russia in late 2020. In addition, operations were closed at the last two US consulates – one in Vladivostok and one in Yekaterinburg – leaving the US Embassy in Moscow as the only U.S. outpost in the entire country.