Alexey Navalny issued a rallying call to Russians ahead of March’s election in the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic has been arrested on the day of nationwide protests against the leader’s bid to stay in office for at least another six years.
Anti-corruption blogger Alexey Navalny mobilized two waves of protests in dozens of cities last year, incensed at the reported wealth of government officials under Putin’s protection. As Putin announced last month he is seeking re-election in March’s presidential vote, Navalny has repeatedly called for a boycott at the ballot boxes in a bid to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Putin’s campaign by lowering turnout.
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While Navalny is regularly arrested at his rallies, police went a step further in the early afternoon on Sunday, forcing their way into Navalny’s office and detaining six members of his team in a raid, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info. Protests gripped not only Moscow but Russia’s second most important city, St. Petersburg, as well as cities in the country’s east.
“They are the future of Russia,” Navalny tweeted with a photo of two young protesters. “Putin and his band of thieves are her past.”
The post came shortly after Navalny’s Twitter account informed his followers that he too had been arrested while on his way to a rally on Moscow’s busy Tverskaya street. Changes to Russian laws on public protests under Putin have proven a sticking point between Navalny and the Kremlin, as he is persistently blocked from assembling crowds in Moscow for reasons he has branded unconstitutional.
“The detention of one person loses all sense when there are so many of us,” a post by Navalny’s account read, with a video of Moscow police shoving through his supporters to force him into their car. “Someone come and replace me,” the caption demanded.
Supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny shout slogans during a rally for a boycott of a March 18 presidential election in Moscow, Russia January 28,2018. Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Navalny has made several appeals to Russians on his popular social media channels in recent weeks, stressing that Russians should not rally to support him personally but to block Putin, whom he accused of dragging Russia into a “swamp” of stagnation.
Police also shut down Navan’y office studio where he records regular news bulletins for his followers and from where his allies had been posting information about Sunday’s protests.
The forced entrance into the studio was shown live as staff were in the middle of a broadcast. The reason police gave for the raid was a bomb threat on the facility.
