There are pickets in Russia against the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. Opposition politicians, cultural figures, scientists, and journalists are calling for an immediate halt to the aggression.
Residents of Siberian cities were the first to hold anti-war pickets. Many of them were detained by police, Sibir.Realii correspondents report.
Omsk activist Mikhail Melnikov and Dmitry Grunin from the Omsk Civil Association (OGO) also picketed in various public squares in the city.
According to the activist, he went on the picket because he does not want to be part of the aggressor country. In Grunin's opinion, the war with Ukraine will turn into a tragedy not only for Ukraine. It would become "a gravestone for the Russian economy, which is already barely showing signs of life," and lead to the state's political isolation.
The activist complained that the news of military actions on the territory of another state was received with enthusiasm by some Russians.
According to Mikhail Melnikov, who took part in the picket, "It's an eternal disgrace for all of us, we didn't stop Putin. We are responsible for everything," the picketer told Sibir.Realities. During the picket, Melnikov was approached by police officers and detained.
In Irkutsk, activists Pavel Kharitonenko and Natalia Moskina staged a protest outside the Irkutsk regional administration building. Kharitonenko was later detained by the police and taken to the police station, the activist himself told the editorial office. They refused to tell him the reason for his detention.
Irkutsk human rights activist and head of Ust-Kut 24 Alexei Tupitsin and the editorial board also spoke out against Russian aggression against Ukraine. "No to the war! I am not an accomplice to the crimes of Putin's regime," Tupitsin wrote on the poster.
In Khabarovsk, Nikolai Zodchey, a participant of the anti-war action, was detained. The police said that the detention was guided by a regional government resolution that allegedly banned pickets.
Activist Dmitri Skurikhin went out to an anti-war picket outside his store in Leningrad region.
The police began detaining the protesters. For example, human rights activist Marina Litvinovich, who had called on people in the evening of 24 February to come out onto the central squares of their cities for anti-war actions, was detained in Moscow.
Litvinovich herself indicated that she had been detained as she was leaving her home. According to the woman, she was taken to the "Meshchanskii" police station.
According to human rights portal "OVD-Info," several activists who held anti-war posters at Pushkinskaya Square, the Russian Foreign Ministry building and Baumanskaya metro station were also detained in Moscow. According to its information, at least two people have also been detained in St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, in Khabarovsk, police detained an activist with a placard reading "Putin, get out of Ukraine!" according to Sota.Vision. The police cited a decree from the region's leadership to combat the coronavirus infection. And in Irkutsk, one of the four participants in the solitary pickets was detained, Mediazone points out.
Znak.com reports that in Yekaterinburg, five protesters were taken to police stations. According to the online-edition 66.ru, police drew up reports charging them with disorderly conduct.
According to OVD-Info human rights activists, at least 150 people have already been detained at anti-war rallies.
