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The raid was aimed at a conference that the opposition was holding in preparation for the parliamentary elections (Twitter)
On Saturday, Russian police arrested some two hundred people, including political activists and municipal councilors, during their participation in an opposition forum in Moscow, at a time when the authorities were leading a severe crackdown on opponents of the Kremlin months before the scheduled parliamentary elections. for September.
The raid, which targeted a conference held by the opposition in preparation for the parliamentary elections, came after Alexei Navalny, the most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, and more. than ten thousand protesters. they were arrested in various parts of the country.
Russian police often disperse opposition protests, but the arrest of members of municipal councils during a conference in Moscow is an unprecedented step.
Personalities from more than fifty Russian regions participated in the forum, which was held in a hotel in northern Moscow, in preparation for the regional and local elections scheduled for September, organized by the opposition-backed organization “United Democrats” Mikhail Khodorkovsky .
Approximately forty minutes after the start of the conference, the police raided and arrested several participants.
“All the participants in the Forum of Municipalities in Moscow have been arrested,” said a tweet from Khodorkovsky, describing the matter as “against the constitution.”
In Moscow, the ENTIRE forum of municipal deputies of Russia stopped! More than 100 municipal councilors from all over the country.
The dictatorship throws away the last fig leaves.
I urge the deputies of the representative bodies to support their colleagues and declare such actions unconstitutional! pic.twitter.com/FzlRRGO6eO– Mikhail Khodorkovsky (@ mich261213) March 13, 2021
Among those arrested were prominent opposition figures such as Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Morza, Yulia Galiamina, Yevgeny Rosman and Andrey Pivovarov. Several journalists were also arrested.
“The very symbolic end of a short forum: members of city councils on police buses, masked policemen twisting people’s arms,” read a comment Yashin posted on Facebook.
For their part, the Moscow Police announced in a statement that about two hundred people had been arrested. He explained that many of the forum participants did not wear masks and that some of the detainees were members of an organization that had previously announced that their work was “undesirable”.
In a statement to Agence France-Presse from inside a police station, Pivovarov said forum participants were arrested because authorities believed the conference was organized by “Open Russia,” a movement founded by Khodorkovsky that authorities they consider “an undesirable organization”. . “
Similar to “Open Russia”, the “United Democrats” organization that created the forum belongs to Khodorkovsky, according to Pivovarov. Who indicated that the authorities were apparently looking for an excuse to stop the opposition forum.
On Saturday night, several activists who were arrested reported that they were released pending their summons to appear in court. Kara Morza said that he had been released and an investigation had been opened against an unwanted organization and its activities.
On Saturday night, Pivovarov tweeted that he said police had told him they were under pressure to crack down on Kremlin opponents. “The police make fun of what they are doing,” Pivovarov said.
On Saturday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for an end to the “persecution of independent voices” in Russia, after the forum participant was arrested. “We call for an end to the persecution of independent voices,” Blinken wrote on Twitter.
Today, the Russian government detained nearly 200 municipal leaders and politicians, including political activists Vladimir Kara-Murza and Yuliya Galyamina, on dubious grounds. We call for an end to the persecution of independent voices.
– Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) March 14, 2021
Khodorkovsky lives in exile and used to own the giant oil company “Yukos” before his conviction in two controversial cases and spent ten years in prison.
Navalny’s team accused the authorities of trying to intimidate the opposition before the parliamentary elections. “The reason for canceling the forum is clear: the authorities fear any competition during the elections and intimidate their opponents,” the team’s Instagram post said. He added: “The popularity of United Russia (the ruling party) is at its lowest levels, and winning the elections, even if they are rigged, will be more difficult.”
“Political action in Russia is a crime, it has become official,” said Kirill Martinov, political editor of the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, the leading independent Russian newspaper.
Political analyst Sami Galiyamov said the forum would have gone unnoticed if Russian police forces had not intervened. “Nobody really cares about the local government issue,” he wrote, adding that the forum “has now become a completely political event.”
(Brush from France)
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