Despite the fact that hundreds of protestors were arrested each day by police,
Demonstrators marched through the city center, holding pickets, and shouting “No to War!” as President Vladimir Putin placed the Russian nuclear deterrent on high alert. This increased the tension between the Kremlin and the West, and inflamed fears of nuclear war.
“I have two boys and I don’t want to give them up to this bloody monster. Dmitry Maltsev (48), who was part of the St. Petersburg rally, said to The Associated Press that war is a tragedy for us all.
Protests against the invasion began Thursday in Russia, and have continued every day since. However, Russian police are quick to detain and crack down on protesters and rallies. The Kremlin tried to minimize the protests and insist that a larger share of Russians support the attack on Ukraine.
In recent days, thousands have signed petitions and opened letters condemning the invasion. It was also condemned by celebrities and TV personalities. A petition online, which was launched just hours after Putin’s attack, attracted over 930,000 signatures within four days. It has become one of Russia’s most popular petitions in recent years.
Police in full riot gear grabbed protesters in St. Petersburg and began to drag them into their vans. Moscow footage showed that police threw several women protestors to the ground and then dragged them away.
According to OVD-Info, a rights group that tracks political arrests and police, at least 2,710 Russians were detained in 51 cities Sunday for protests against war. This brings the total number of people detained to almost 6,000.
After four days of fighting that has claimed many lives, Putin escalated the stakes on Sunday. He ordered the military Russia’s nukes on high alert citing Western countries “taking hostile actions against our country” and “top officials representing leading NATO members made aggressive remarks regarding our country.”
The U.S. and its European allies warned the Russian people that sanctions would be coming. They could freeze hard currency reserves at Russia’s Central Bank, and cut off the SWIFT international payment network. This unprecedented move could quickly cause chaos in the Russian economy.
Russians are concerned that the country’s economy will be hit hard by stiff sanctions. Russians have been flooding to ATMs and banks to withdraw cash since Thursday. This has created long lines and reported on social media about ATMs running out of money.
According to Russia’s Central Bank on Thursday, Russians drew 111 trillion rubles (roughly $1.3 billion) in cash.
The Sunday anti-war demonstrations seemed smaller and less scattered than those that took place in Moscow and St. Petersburg on the first day after Russia attacked Ukraine. However, it was difficult to determine their true scale and they seemed to be increasing in speed throughout the day.
It is both a crime against Russia and Ukraine. It is killing both Russia and Ukraine, I believe. I am outraged. I haven’t slept for three night. I believe we should now declare loudly that we don’t want Ukraine killed.
Many people gathered in Moscow and St. Petersburg to build memorials to Boris Nemtsov. He was a prominent Russian opposition figure, who was killed near the Kremlin on February 27, 2015. Many brought flowers to pay tribute to Nemtsov, while others held banners protesting the invasion in Ukraine. They were only taken out a few minutes later.
Nemtsov was one of Russia’s most charismatic opposition leaders. He stood up against the fighting in eastern Ukraine where Russia-backed separatists are fighting with Ukrainian forces since 2014. This conflict has been ongoing for more than 14,000 deaths.
Recent actions by Russian authorities have been to suppress criticism.
Vyacheslav Volodin, Russian lower house speaker, said that the anti-war stances of “certain cultural leaders” were “inappropriate” as well as “nothing less than a betrayal by your own people.”
Access to Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites has been restricted. Human rights advocates fear that similar measures will soon be taken against YouTube.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media watchdog and state communications agency demanded Sunday that Google lift restrictions on YouTube channels owned by Russian state media outlets. Network Freedoms noted that Facebook refused to meet a similar request this week, which led to restricted access.
After receiving notification from Roskomnadzor, the Current Time website, a Russian television channel that criticizes the Kremlin was made unavailable on Sunday.
