For the fourth day in a row, massive anti-war rallies erupted across Russia, as Vladimir Putin’s war on dissent took an alarming turn on Sunday, when the authorities vowed to imprison ‘traitors’ who assist besieged Ukraine in any way for a period of 20 years.
Russians protested the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday in cities across the country, from Moscow to Siberia.
Peaceful marchers in Russia’s capital Moscow and Putin’s hometown of St Petersburg yelled “No to War” before being kidnapped and hauled into police vans by riot police in riot gear.
By Sunday afternoon, Russian police had detained at least 356 Russians in 32 places, according to the rights group OVD-Info, which tracks political arrests. Protests against Putin’s unpopular war began on Thursday and have already lasted four days, despite authorities detaining hundreds of people every day.
The Russian government, headed by Vladimir Putin, has thus initiated a broad assault on internal criticism of the Ukraine conflict, accusing anyone who assists the country of treason to the Motherland today.
