Measures taken by officials to stop peaceful protests in Russia were recorded

The protests in Moscow and across Russia are not new, but the weekend’s peaceful demonstrations have been met with such fierce displays of the power of power structures that the country and the world have not seen in years.

For the second weekend in a row, protesters gathered in the streets to express their support for the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navaln.

This Sunday, militia and omon officers detained more than 5,000 people in 85 Russian cities, the most since 2011.

In Moscow alone, 1,600 people were arrested, including Navaln’s wife, Julia, who was later released.

Foreign television showed people being randomly arrested just for being in a place where peaceful crowds were gathering.

The Russian capital yesterday was like a fortress, a cordon followed a cordon, the city center was completely blocked, the subway stations closed.

Organizers of the protests constantly changed meeting places, forcing riot police to follow the marching columns of protesters each time.

Navaln himself has been locked up in prison since January 17, when he returned to Russia from Germany. A Russian dissident spent several months in Germany. There he was treated after a failed attempt to poison him with a powerful nerve paralyzing poison.

Navaln has accused Vladimir Putin of trying to kill him, but the Kremlin has denied the accusations.

Navaln’s dramatic return to his homeland, when there was no question that he would be arrested, is obviously a matter of great concern to Putin, who has dominated the Russian political arena for more than two decades.