MOSCOW – Thousands of people marched in the eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk on Saturday for the third consecutive weekend, protesting President Vladimir Putin’s handling of a regional political crisis that has sparked protests.
Residents of the city, about 3,800 miles and seven time zones east of Moscow, are unhappy with the arrest on July 9 of the region’s popular regional governor, Sergei Furgal, who was arrested on murder charges he denies.
His arrest, which his supporters say was politically motivated, has triggered more than two weeks of street protests, creating a headache for the Kremlin as it is trying to fix a sharp COVID-19-induced drop in real income and control the riots. . the economy stutters.
The images of the protest showed people singing “Misfortune!” and slogans demanding Putin’s resignation because local people had lost confidence in him.
City authorities estimated that some 6,500 people had participated. Local media put the number at up to 20,000 people.
The protests have highlighted the ire of some in the far east for what they see as policies emanating from independent Moscow-based authorities on the other side of the country.
Supporters of Furgal, the arrested governor and member of the nationalist LDPR party, feel he is being punished belatedly for defeating a candidate from the pro-Putin ruling party United Russia in 2018. The Kremlin says Furgal has serious charges to respond.
Such sustained protests are unusual for Russia’s regions, as is the fact that the authorities have not yet moved to divide them.
In an apparent move to calm tensions, Putin named a new acting governor on Monday to head the region. But protesters said they were insulted by the election of Mikhail Degtyaryov, who has no connection to the region, and have asked him to resign as well.
