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Putin’s most active critic, who called for mass protests, returned to Moscow last weekend after spending several months in Germany, where he was treated with Novičiok, a nerve paralyzing substance after poisoning. He was arrested at the Sheremetyevo airport and taken to a detention center.
The planned protests in ten cities are expected to be the biggest test of the opposition’s ability to mobilize people in Russia, despite mounting pressure from the Kremlin on critics and a coronavirus pandemic.
The first protests took place in the Far East and Siberia, including Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Chita, where several thousand people took to the streets, Navaln supporters said.
According to the OVD-Info website, which collects information on arrests during political protests in Russia, some 50 people have been detained in 10 cities.
The authorities have vowed to fight hard and use the police, saying that unauthorized public events will be “suppressed immediately”.
In Moscow, where the biggest demonstrations often take place, protesters will gather to gather in central Pushkin Square at 2 pm local time (1 pm Lithuania) and then head towards the Kremlin.
“I’ll get help”
On the eve of the protests, A. Navalnas, who is being held in the heavily guarded Moscow interrogation cell “Matrosskaya Tishina”, thanked his followers.
“I know very well that there are a lot of good people outside my prison and that I will get help,” he said Friday.
Navaln’s wife, Julia, said she would join the protest in Moscow.
“For me, for him, for our children, for our values and ideals,” he wrote on his Instagram account.
In the run-up to the protests, several of Navaln’s key aides were detained for violating the laws governing the protests and sentenced to short prison terms to prevent them from attending the demonstrations.
A commission of inquiry investigating serious crimes announced on Friday that it had launched a criminal investigation into incitement to participate in illegal protests.
An emergency court jailed Navalnas for 30 days on Monday, and his supporters fear authorities plan to impose a lengthy prison sentence on the opposition to silence him.
Putin’s Palace
This week, Navaln’s team circulated a report on a huge mansion on the Black Sea coast that is believed to belong to President Putin.
Today protests are taking place across Russia, calling for Navalny’s release.
This is Vladivostok, in the Far East of the country pic.twitter.com/luO4oudeH9
– Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) January 23, 2021
According to a report on Putin’s palace, the Russian president is 17,691 square meters, 39 times the size of the Principality of Monaco.
The palace has a casino, a theater and a hookah room with a dance floor.
The nearly two-hour video report has been viewed more than 65 million times since Tuesday and has become the most-watched critic of the Kremlin on the YouTube platform.
The Kremlin has denied that the property belongs to Putin.
Many Russians have used social media, including the video-sharing program TikTok, which is very popular with teens, to voice their support for Navaln and urge protesters to take action on Saturday.
Recordings with a play and a lawsuit to launch A. Navalna were widely disseminated after the platform was established in China; they were shared by thousands of Russians.
Great procession in Yekaterinburg! pic.twitter.com/b4J0px2iXx
– Team Navalny (@teamnavalny) January 23, 2021
Russia’s media watchdog warned internet platforms not to encourage minors to participate in protests and threatened steep fines.
On Friday, the service announced that media platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, have removed some of the content.
Protests in support of Navalny are already underway in several Siberian cities, including Yakutsk, where the temperature is -50 degrees. https://t.co/UHnqFKz0pj
– max seddon (@maxseddon) January 23, 2021
Russia’s most popular social network, VKontakte, has blocked groups created to coordinate protests in different cities.
However, several public figures, including those who generally avoid politics, spoke in support of Mr. Navalna.
Navaln, 44, became famous a decade ago and has since become a key figure in the Russian opposition movement, capable of mobilizing large-scale street protests against corruption and electoral fraud.
His arrest was the subject of strong Western condemnation and the United States, the European Union, France and Canada called for the release of the opposition.
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