As many thousands of people across the world are protesting Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, a growing number of Russians are calling for an end of the invasion of Ukraine. The sight of Slavs killing their fellow Slavs is an obscenity to many Russians.
- Police arrest anti-war protesters
- Protests in cities across Russia
- Russian pollsters say Putin's ratings have jumped
LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - Police detained more than 4,300 people on Sunday at Russia-wide protests against President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, according to an independent protest monitoring group.
Thousands of protesters chanted "No to war!" and "Shame on you!", according to videos posted on social media by opposition activists and bloggers.
The interior ministry said 5,200 people had taken part in the protests. The OVD-Info protest monitoring group said it had documented the detention of at least 4,366 people in 56 different cities.
"We are seeing rather big protests today, even in Siberian cities where we only rarely saw such numbers of arrests."
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said Russian values were being tested by the West, which offered only excessive consumption and the illusion of freedom.
So even the Russian Orthodox Church obediently provides Putin with a justification for his atrocious invasion of a neighboring country. How disappointing to see.
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The Russian state polling agency VTsIOM said Putin's approval rating had risen 6 percentage points to 70% in the week to Feb. 27. FOM, which provides research for the Kremlin, said his rating had risen 7 percentage points to 71% in the same period.
By Sam Jones
The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had called for protest across Russia and the rest of the world after the Russian invasion, which began on 24 February. But Russia’s interior ministry warned on Saturday that any attempt to hold unauthorised protests would be prevented and the organisers held to account.
Independent reporting from Russia has become increasingly difficult since Friday, when the government cracked down on news outlets by passing a law that made the intentional spreading of “fake” or “false” news about the war in Ukraine a criminal offence punishable by jail terms of up to 15 years.
A video posted on social media showed a protester on a square in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk shouting “No to war – how are you not ashamed?” before being arrested by two police officers. Police also used loudspeakers to tell a small group of protesters in the city: “Respected citizens, you are taking part in an unsanctioned public event. We demand you disperse.” Reuters was not able to independently verify the post.
Putin is the dog who caught the car he was chasing. His intelligence agencies told him what he wanted to hear about Ukraine. Now Russians are reacting to his developing quagmire of a war pitting Slav against Slav with unanticipated revulsion.
My admiration goes out to these brave Russian anti-war protesters.