Russian police thwarted a banned anti-Kremlin protest in central Moscow on Sunday, seizing dozens of demonstrators and shoving them into trucks.
Organizers said 130 people were detained around the capital but police put the number at 90. The opposition movement headed by fierce Kremlin critic and former chess champion Garry Kasparov said the co-leader of the group was one of those seized.
The Other Russia movement organized Sunday’s protest, in defiance of a ban, to draw attention to Russia’s economic troubles and to protest Kremlin plans to extend the presidential term from four years to six. Critics say the constitutional change as part of a retreat from democracy and is aimed at strengthening the grip of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his allies.
News broadcasts on the main TV networks made no mention of the Moscow crackdown or of protests in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok.
Kasparov and other prominent liberals have just launched a new anti-Kremlin movement called Solidarity in a bid to unite Russia’s liberal forces and encourage a popular revolution similar to those in Ukraine and Georgia.
Before the scheduled start of Sunday’s protest, hundreds of officers guarded Triumph Square, which was ringed by police trucks and metal barriers.
Police roughly grabbed protesters who tried to enter the square, dragging at least 25 people into waiting trucks.
Police also seized Other Russia co-leader Eduard Limonov along with a handful of bodyguards as they walked toward the square. They were bundled into police vehicles.
Kasparov and a group of supporters decided to avoid police by marching in a different location, then set off for a third site after finding another strong police presence, spokeswoman Marina Litvinovich said.
Kasparov’s Web site said police in Moscow also broke up a protest by a hard-line group of retired generals in a square nearby and detained about 50 participants.
The group, the Soviet Officers’ Union, could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, the government has submitted to parliament a new bill expanding the definition of treason, a move lawyers worry could be a throwback to the Soviet times when any criticism was punished.
The bill — which was submitted Friday to the State Duma — expands the definition of treason to not only acting against national security but also against the constitutional order of the country and state integrity. Currently, treason is defined as “treacherous acts aimed at damaging external security.”
The bill also said that “rendering financial or material and technical or consultative support to “a foreign organization” would also amount to state treason.
The government submitted the amendments on the same day the State Suma passed a third and final reading of a bill abolishing jury trials for crimes like terrorism and espionage.
The bill also abolished jury trials for people suspected of treason, hostage-taking, organising mass disturbances and some other serious crimes, in a move human rights groups fear will weaken the judicial system.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
‘MAGA CIVIL WAR’: Former Trump strategist Bannon said the H1-B program created ‘indentured servants,’ but Musk said that he was willing ‘to go to war on this issue’ US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday weighed in on a bitter debate dividing his traditional supporters and tech barons such as Elon Musk, saying that he backs a special visa program that helps highly skilled workers enter the country. “I’ve always liked the [H1-B] visas, I have always been in favor of the visas, that’s why we have them” at Trump-owned facilities, he told the New York Post in his first public comments on the matter since it flared up this week. An angry back-and-forth, largely between Silicon Valley’s Musk and traditional anti-immigration Trump backers, has erupted in fiery fashion, with Musk
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
RSS