In the midst of the Russian presidential campaign, Moscow police briefly arrested at least twenty journalists on Saturday during a rally organized under the walls of the Kremlin by the wives of soldiers fighting in Ukraine, who are demanding the return of their husbands from the front.
An AFP videographer arrested during this demonstration indicated that around 20 to 25 journalists, all men, found themselves with him in a police van and were taken to a police station for identity checks.
About three hours later, all these journalists were released after receiving a warning from the Russian Interior Ministry, according to the AFP videographer.
Among those arrested were several employees of foreign media, including the American press agency AP, the Dutch media NOS, the German magazine Spiegel and a French independent reporter.
Before these arrests, between 40 and 50 mobilized women had placed flowers on the tomb of the unknown soldier under the walls of the Kremlin, near Red Square.
According to the independent media Sota Vision, some arrests of people demonstrating against the military mobilization also took place in front of the headquarters of Vladimir Putin's electoral campaign for the presidential election in Moscow.
Sota Vision posted this Saturday on the social network X, the testimony of the wife of a mobilized man: “The special military operation is a great tragedy that occurred between two brother peoples.
And I understood that from the beginning.
»
“Specialist military operations — it’s a big tragedy, and it’s a big story.” между двумя братскими народами.
“I’m a self-propelled boat,” — Jeanne Mobilizovannya, Marija Andréeva
В идео: SOTAvision // Антонина Фаворская pic.twitter.com/IVhNb7vLBC
— SOTA (@Sota_Vision) February 3, 2024
On Telegram in the morning, the Moscow prosecutor's office warned of possible prosecution in the event of participation in “unauthorized demonstrations”.
Actions largely ignored by the Russian media
For several weeks, wives of soldiers mobilized to fight in Ukraine have met regularly as a sign of protest.
The anger of relatives of the reservists mobilized on the orders of Vladimir Putin in September 2022 is a sensitive subject for the authorities, who have until now been careful not to repress this emerging rebellious movement.
Read alsoPutin meets mothers of soldiers, a “choreography” for his opponents
Several groups on social networks intended for relatives of mobilized soldiers have emerged in recent months.
One of the most active, called “Pout Domoï” (“The way home”), calls for demonstrations every Saturday.
Previously, during other demonstrations of this type in Moscow, the police had not intervened, although any start of protest is usually severely repressed in Russia.
The activism of mobilized women has been largely ignored by Russian state media, while the Kremlin wants to display an image of unity around Vladimir Putin before his inevitable re-election in the presidential election of March 2024, even if a opponent of the war in Ukraine wants to challenge him at the ballot box.
According to the Russian president, 244,000 mobilized troops are currently fighting in Ukraine out of a total force of 617,000 men.