Russia: nearly 3,500 pro-Navalny protesters arrested, outcry within the international community

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Russia on Saturday to demand the release of Alexey Navalny.

The opponent was arrested on his return to the country after being treated for five months in Germany, while suspicions of poisoning hang over the Russian state.

He is now imprisoned until February 15.

At the call of its support committee, these unauthorized demonstrations gave rise to arrests, sometimes brutal, and clashes between protesters and the police.

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Pro-Navalny protests: more than 2,000 people arrested in Russia

In total, nearly 3,500 people were arrested across the country during these rallies, including 1,360 in Moscow and 523 in St. Petersburg, the country's second city.

Observers say this is the largest number of arrests during opposition protests in modern Russian history.

Russia: Around 300 teenagers were detained at rallies across the country, including around 70 in Moscow, around 30 in St. Petersburg (children's ombudsperson).

US diplomats will be summoned to the MFA for publications on the protests.

📹: Pushkin Square, Moscow pic.twitter.com/NAA6p3dfo0

- Rebecca Rambar (@RebeccaRambar) January 23, 2021

However, according to the chairman of the Consultative Council for Human Rights to the Kremlin, Valeri Fadeev, most of the demonstrators arrested in Moscow have been released.

Woman kicked by riot police

The Russian Investigation Committee, responsible for the main criminal investigations in the country, announced on Saturday evening the opening of an investigation into the use of violence against the police and hooliganism during these demonstrations.

The local branch of the Committee in St. Petersburg announced in a separate statement the arrest of a 36-year-old protester on suspicion of punching two police officers on the sidelines of the protest.

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For its part, the Saint Petersburg prosecutor's office said on Saturday evening to investigate not only violence against the police, but also those "by the forces responsible for enforcing the law."

The statement came after local media broadcast a video showing a woman falling to the ground after being kicked by riot police.

The woman, identified as Margarita Youdina, asks three police officers in the video why they are arresting a young unarmed protester.

One of the policemen then kicks him in the stomach.

Margarita Youdina was hospitalized on Saturday evening with a head injury and remains "in serious condition," said a representative of the Djanelidze hospital in Saint Petersburg on Sunday.

#Navalny #Russia #SaintPetersbourg #Putin # омон pic.twitter.com/k6mQoS0gQu

- 🌈Sladkay Pel'meh @ ❌ (@PelmehaXXL) January 23, 2021

Leonid Volkov, a member of Alexey Navalny's team, said "certainly proud, very impressed and inspired" by the results of the demonstrations organized the day before.

According to him, new protests should take place in Russia from "next weekend".

An outcry from the international community

These arrests sparked an uproar in the international community.

The United States and the European Union condemned the crackdown on protests.

Amnesty International, for its part, accused the police of "indiscriminately beating and arbitrarily arresting" demonstrators.

In France, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs estimated, this Sunday in the program "Political questions" on France Inter, that this wave of arrests an "authoritarian drift" and an "unbearable" attack on Right wing state.

And to add: "I also find that the success of the demonstrations on the whole of the Russian territory is impressive" but also while welcoming the step of Alexeï Navalny which "deserves a lot of respect.

He has the audacity of his actions ”.

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Alexei Navalny returns to Moscow

According to the head of French diplomacy, this affair “calls into question a little the desire for confidence and security that we can have with regard to Russia.

"

Several European leaders have also called for the adoption of new sanctions against Russia if calls to release the opponent remain unanswered.

The issue will be raised on Monday by EU foreign ministers.

For its part, the Kremlin retaliated by accusing the United States of interference by denouncing a press release from the American embassy in Moscow published on the eve of the protest demonstrations in Russia to demand the release of the opponent Alexeï Navalny.

The American diplomatic representation had called on its site the Americans not to go to these gatherings on Saturday, specifying the places where they were taking place.

These publications "indirectly constitute an absolute interference in our internal affairs", reacted Sunday the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, in an interview with the Russian public channel Rossia 1, of which extracts were published on the site of the chain .