Civilians and journalists from foreign press organizations have been detained in Russia after the crack down of authorities on protesters at President Vladimir Putin’s election headquarters, Moscow, as reported by independent press outlets.
Women Protest in Moscow, a rare site but not new
The protest was organized by the wives and mothers of mobilized men demanding the return of their sons and husbands from the war in Ukraine
“We want a total demobilization. Civilians must not be engaged in the fighting,” says a woman protesting at site.
They are wives and mother of more than 300,000 Russian men who mere mobilizes in September 2022, at a moment where Russia needed to shore up its troops after a successful counter offense of Ukraine and recapturing territory in south and north of the country.
After a year from being separated from their loved ones, many women are protesting and writing open letters to cast the narrative that mobilized troops for the war.
“Why should our men who have a peaceful life have to go to Ukraine?”, said a woman living in Moscow, adding that if the government has decided to attack a country probably less than 1/8 of its size, than let the army fight and leave our men at home.
The movement stated around mid-September after Andrei Kartapolov, the chair of defence committee, told that there would be no rotation and replacement of troops in Ukraine and they would return home only after the operation is completed.
Women protest in Russia is rare but not a new thing, along the course of history Russian women have led anti-war movements in order to turn public opinion and influence kremlin’s decisions during the first Chechen war in 1994
How kremlin handles protest?
Since Putin took power In 1999, the authorities have taken drastic and systematic steps in order to dismantle movements from grassroots also taking over independent media outlets and other organization that could provide a platform against him.
After the beginning of the special security mission in Ukraine, Moscow started criminalizing all anti-war voices and started handing out brutal punishments to civilians for even a small act of protest against the invasion.
Crackdown on journalists
A video is in circulation where Russian authorities detaining several people wearing “press” vests at Red Square.
Around 27 people, only one protester among them were driven in a police van to Kitay-Gorod station, where they are currently detained.
OVD-info, a group monitoring Russian repressions said that they have sent a lawyer to visit the detainees but the access was not granted to him.
Among those held are journalists working for Kommersant, Spiegel and French Press. Along with them there are some human rights activites, as reported by Mediazona an independent Russian media organization.
Other than that, another group of 7 journalists cover the protest site were taken to custody at Basmanny police station, OVD-info reported
One state media employee and 3 minors have been released from Kitay-Gorod. They said “Police told them that they planned to release the rest of the federal and foreign media employees, but to leave ‘foreign agents’ media representatives in the police station. All detainees also had their phones taken away”.
According to the 2022 amendment in the Russian foreign agents law, which included the individuals or groups who received support or is under foreign influence will be charged accordingly.
This is being criticized as a move by Putin to silence its critiques, including journalists.
