Police in Russia have arrested greater than 100 individuals throughout the nation at memorials and demonstrations to honor opposition chief Alexey Navalny, who authorities say died in a distant penal colony.
On Saturday, protest monitoring group OVD-Data stated greater than 110 individuals had been arrested, together with 64 in St. Petersburg.
The federal jail service stated Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a stroll within the Arctic penal colony “Polar Wolf” the place he was serving a 19-year sentence, which triggered an outpouring of grief and shock amongst his supporters everywhere in the world. world and condemned by world leaders.
As information of his loss of life unfold, spontaneous memorials occurred in lots of city areas, with individuals taken into custody in 13 cities, in keeping with OVD-Data, which tracks political repression in Russia.
Eleven individuals had been arrested within the capital, Moscow, and a number of other others within the cities of Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don and Tver, he added.
The a whole lot of flowers and candles specified by Moscow on Friday for Navalny, a outstanding critic of President Vladimir Putin, had been principally carried in a single day in black baggage. A number of dozen roses and carnations lay within the snow Saturday on the monument to victims of Soviet repression, which stands within the shadow of the previous KGB headquarters on Lubyanka Sq. in central Moscow.
Movies and photographs shared on Russian social media additionally confirmed flowers being faraway from monuments to victims of Soviet-era repression throughout the nation.
Protests are unlawful in Russia below strict anti-dissent legal guidelines, and authorities have cracked down significantly laborious on demonstrations in assist of Navalny.
Authorities within the capital stated on Friday they had been conscious of on-line calls “to participate in a mass demonstration in central Moscow” and warned individuals not to participate.
On a bridge close to the Kremlin the place opposition chief and former prime minister Boris Nemtsov was gunned down on February 27, 2015, flowers had been additionally eliminated in a single day.
An impromptu vase of purple and white carnations remained with a small piece of printed paper. “Boris Nemtsov was shot within the again and murdered right here,” the observe stated.
On Saturday, police blocked entry to a memorial within the Siberian metropolis of Novosibirsk and arrested a number of individuals there, in addition to in one other Siberian metropolis, Surgut, OVD-Data reported.
Video shared on social media from Novosibirsk confirmed individuals sticking purple flowers within the snow as police blocked entry to the memorial with tape.
Putin's ties to the West
Navalny's loss of life – which comes lower than a month earlier than presidential elections which are certain to return Putin to a different six years in energy – could have little impact on the outcomes, stated Alexey Muraviev, a professor of strategic research on the Curtin College.
“Navalny doesn’t have vital political weight in Russia. He had a military of supporters, however in comparison with the overall proportion of the Russian conservative citizens they had been, and proceed to be, a minority,” Muraviev informed Al Jazeera.
As an alternative, Muraviev added, this might harm the Russian president's try to re-establish a dialogue with the West with renewed give attention to his repressive regime.
US President Joe Biden stated Navalny “bravely stood as much as corruption, violence and all of the dangerous issues the Putin authorities was doing,” including that “Putin is chargeable for Navalny's loss of life.”
European Council President Charles Michel stated the Russian dissident “fought for the values of freedom and democracy” and made the last word sacrifice.
“The EU holds the Russian regime solely chargeable for this tragic loss of life,” he stated.
Australian International Minister Penny Wong stated on Saturday that Navalny's “heroic opposition to Putin's repressive and unjust regime has impressed the world”.
Wong posted on X: “We maintain the Russian Authorities solely chargeable for his remedy and loss of life in jail.”
The Kremlin – which has not commented on Navalny's loss of life – described the reactions of Western leaders as “completely unacceptable” and “hysterical”.
China's International Ministry declined to touch upon Saturday describing it as “Russia's inside affairs,” the AFP information company reported.
Navalny has been in jail since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow to face sure arrest after recovering in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He was later convicted thrice, saying every case was politically motivated, and acquired a 19-year sentence for extremism.
After the final verdict, Navalny stated that he understood that he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the size of my life or the size of lifetime of this regime.”
Hours after Navalny's loss of life was reported, his spouse, Yulia Navalnaya, addressed the Munich Safety Convention in Germany the place a number of leaders had gathered.
“If that is true, I need Putin and everybody round Putin, Putin's pals, his authorities to know that they should take accountability for what they did to our nation, to my household and to my husband. And that day is coming very quickly,” he stated.
Navalny's mom, Lyudmila Navalnaya, was touring to the jail colony the place he died, accompanied by her lawyer, Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported on Saturday.
