4,000 Arrested in Russia’s Alexey Navalny Protests, Wife Yulia Released
Moscow (CNN)The wife of opposition leader
Alexey Navalny has been released after her detention Sunday in Moscow,
as protesters across the country rallied in her husband's name.
More than 4,100 people have been detained so far across
Russia over the unsanctioned protests, including 1,080 in
Moscow and 796 in St. Petersburg, according to OVD-Info,
an independent site that monitors arrests.
The Russia opposition leader's team announced the end
of protests in Moscow on Sunday afternoon, but said that the
"next stop" for demonstrations would be on Tuesday at
Simonovsky court. "Today's protest is over, but we continue
to fight for Alexey Navalny's freedom," the team posted on
their Telegram channel at 6:20 p.m. local time.
On Tuesday, a Moscow court will consider Navalny's case on
fraud charges and will establish whether his suspended sentence
should be replaced with a real jail term.
Navalny was detained on January 17, moments after arriving
in Moscow, following months of treatment in Germany after being
poisoned in August 2020 with nerve agent Novichok. He blamed the poisoning on the Russian government, an allegation the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.
Protests across country
Earlier on Sunday, supporters of Navalny said they were planning
protests in at least 120 cities across the vast country, starting at
noon local time in each location.
Protesters in Moscow planned to march down to the Matrosskaya
Tishina detention center where Navalny is being held in custody,
according to a CNN team on the ground. Local authorities were
closing metro stops one after another leading up to the detention
center in the city's northeastern Sokolniki neighborhood.Riot police
detain a participant in an unauthorized protest in support of
Navalny in central Moscow on Sunday.
Before her reported detention, Yulia Navalnaya posted a picture on Instagram showing her taking part in a protest in the area. "It's great in Sokolniki today!" Navalnaya said in the caption, alongside a photo showing her, hands raised, followed by a column of people.
Navalnaya was detained "during a peaceful walk" by police officers
who did not identify themselves or provide any reason for the detention,
according to Vyacheslav Gimadi, head of the legal department
of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
She has since been released, Grimadi told CNN.
Police detain a man during a protest in support of Navalny in the
Siberian city of Omsk on Sunday.
Police block the way during a protest against the detention of Navalny
in Volgograd, Russia, on Sunday.
A policeman detains a man while protesters try to help him, during a protest
in St. Petersburg on Sunday against the detention of opposition leader
Alexey Navalny.
Live video feeds and social media videos Sunday showed crowds
of people gathering in a number of cities, chanting "Putin is a thief,”
in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In the Russian city of Novosibirsk, in Siberia, live video showed police
detaining drivers who were honking their car horns in support of the
protesters. In response, demonstrators were heard chanting:
"Let them go!"
People could be seen with their elbows linked, forming chains, chanting "Freedom!" and "Give back our money!" as they stood in front of the city hall in the center of Novosibirsk. Rows of riot police were standing in front of them.
Protesters marching along the snowy streets could be heard chanting: "Russia without Putin!" and "one for all, and all for one."
Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs earlier warned Russian citizens not to take part in the "unauthorized" protests. "The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia calls on citizens to refrain from participating in unauthorized protests," the ministry said in an Instagram post.
Russian federal law requires organizers to file an appeal with local authorities at least 10 days in advance to obtain permission to hold a protest.
Demonstrators take part in an unauthorised protest Sunday in support
of Navalny in central Novosibirsk. Riot police detain a man during a rally
in support of jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny in the far eastern city
of Vladivostok on Sunday.
Police detentions in Moscow
Navalny's team announced via its social media accounts new
gathering points for protesters in the cities of Moscow and
St. Petersburg after Russian authorities blocked off certain streets
and metro stations ahead of the rallies.
Earlier in the week Navalny's team said demonstrators in Moscow
would gather in Lubyanka Square, home to the headquarters of the
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
A joint investigation last month by CNN and the investigative group
Bellingcat implicated the FSB in Navalny's August poisoning, piecing
together how an elite unit at the agency followed Navalny's team
throughout a trip to Siberia, at the end of which Navalny fell ill from
exposure to military-grade Novichok.
Russia has denied involvement in the case.
Security forces could be seen out in force in the city's streets,
including Lubyanka Square, on Sunday.
CNN's team in Moscow saw police detaining protesters in an
apparent attempt to stop the protest in the capital getting under way.
People attend a protest in Moscow on Sunday against the jailing of
Alexey Navalny.
Sanctions urged
More than 2,100 people, including Navalnaya, were
arrested last weekend at rallies in nearly 100 cities,
according to OVD-Info.
Ahead of the latest protest, Navalnaya posted a photo on Instagram
of her family. The picture features family members, including
her husband Alexey and his brother, Oleg Navalny, who was
detained earlier this week in Moscow.
Rebecca Ross, spokewoman for the US Embassy in Moscow,
urged Russia to respect international human rights as protests
take place across the country.
"Ahead of planned protests in support of @Navalny, Russian
authorities preemptively detained activists & journalists,
& blocked off Moscow city center. Reports of hundreds
of protesters detained today in Russia. Russia must respect
international #humanrights commitments," Ross tweeted Sunday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also tweeted early Sunday
condemning "persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful
protesters and journalists by Russian authorities for a second
week straight."
"We renew our call for Russia to release those detained for
exercising their human rights," he continued, referring to Navalny.
The Russian Foreign Ministry in turn accused the US of “gross
interference" in the internal matters of Russia, saying Blinken was
supporting the "violation of law" in a statement posted on its official
Facebook page.
"There is no doubt that actions aimed at encouraging protests are part
of a strategy to hold Russia back," the ministry said. "We demand an
end to interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states."
Authorities announced ahead of Sunday's protests that certain streets
in the center of Moscow would be closed off, seven metro stations
would be shut and that no alcohol could be sold in
glass containers all day.
Additionally, the Moscow mayor's office said that cafes, restaurants
and other catering facilities would be closed in the city center on
Sunday, according to Russian state media agency TASS.
"If we are silent, then tomorrow they will come after any of us,”
she wrote in a post accompanying the photo, referring to
Russian authorities.
Navalnaya also made a reference to Putin and an investigation
by Navalny's FBK into Putin's wealth and a luxurious palace he
allegedly owns on the Black Sea.
"In a 16-storey bunker with an aqua disco, a random frightened
person is the one who decides our fate -- he might decide to jail one
and to poison another one," she wrote.
The FBK has urged US President Joe Biden to impose sanctions
on at least eight high-profile Russian figures it says are close to Putin.
FBK executive director Vladimir Ashurkov, who signed the letter,
told CNN on Saturday that the foundation was calling on the
United States to put pressure on Putin to release Navalny.
Journalist and campaigner Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of
murdered Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, said
Sunday she believed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny "will be locked
away in prison for many years."
"The only way to support Alexey Navalny is to take to the streets,”
Nemtsova, who has joined the protests in Moscow, told BBC radio.
"We have no choice, and it is what can partially guarantee Navalny’s
security while he's in prison," she said.
"Lots of people have nothing to lose, especially young people,”
Nemtsov told the program, when asked about the hopes of the
thousands of people who have been protesting across Russia since
Navalny's arrest.
"We are experiencing another economic downturn. In many cases,
if you want to pursue a decent career, you have to be loyal
to the government. Of course, it is very depressing for many people,”
she added.
Nemtsova's father, former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov,
was assassinated on a Moscow bridge within sight of the Kremlin
in 2015. Nemtsov was then considered the most visible leader of
the Russian opposition. Five Chechen men were handed prison
sentences for his killing in 2017.
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