Arrests in Russia: Paris denounces an "unbearable" attack on the rule of law

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday that the wave of arrests the day before in Russia during protests called for by opponent Alexeï Navalny constituted an "authoritarian drift" and an "unbearable attack" "to the rule of law.

"I find this authoritarian drift very worrying. The questioning of the rule of law by these arrests, collective and preventive, is unbearable", he said in the program "Political questions" of the radio France Inter, of the France Télévisions group and of the daily

.

Unauthorized events

Nearly 3,500 protesters in total have been arrested during protests in Russia at the appeal of jailed opponent Alexei Navalny, with authorities investigating violence on Sunday from both protesters and police.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday in a hundred Russian cities, from Moscow to Vladivostok (Far East), to demand the release of Alexei Navalny, the sworn enemy of the Kremlin and slayer of corruption.

These unauthorized demonstrations resulted in arrests, sometimes brutal, and clashes between protesters and police.

In total, nearly 3,500 people were arrested across the country during these gatherings, including 1,360 in Moscow and 523 in St. Petersburg, the country's second city, said Sunday the NGO OVD-Info, specializing in monitoring protest demonstrations.

This is the highest number of arrests during opposition protests in modern Russian history.

According to the chairman of the Consultative Council for Human Rights to the Kremlin, Valéri Fadeïev, most of the demonstrators arrested in Moscow have been released.

He also defended, in a press release, these arrests which occurred during the "illegal" demonstrations.