Lights and shadows on this day that sees the Kremlin show two faces.

Throughout the day and in the evening the face of repression, with the arrest of more than a thousand people who were protesting in the streets against Putin's initiatives.

A budget that is rising by the hour.

According to the NGO Ovd-Info, the demonstrations took place in at least 38 cities in the country.

These are the largest protests in Russia since those following the announcement of the Moscow offensive in Ukraine in late February.

Among the cities involved first of all Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also Ekaterinenburg, Ufa, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Samara and Belgorod, almost on the border with Ukraine, where many refugees from Donbass arrive. 

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Russia, police in riot gear arrested a demonstrator during a protest against the mobilization in Moscow

Moscow Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov in an interview with Newsweek quoted by Tass denounced the West of fueling the conflict: "NATO weapons are used by the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev to kill civilians in Russian territory on the border with Ukraine "," The Pentagon does not hide to provide the Kiev intelligence with the coordinates of the objectives "and added that" the United States and the United Kingdom were frightened by the prospect that Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement, so they forbade Kiev to entertain further talks with Moscow ".

But during the day Putin also wanted to use the more accommodating face of mediation and released a dozen prisoners.

Russia and Ukraine in fact conclude today, a sensational exchange of prisoners with the Saudi mediation.

Ten foreigners from different countries - five British, two Americans and one citizen each of Sweden, Morocco and Croatia - have been transferred to Saudi Arabia, where the Riyadh authorities are "facilitating the procedures for their safe return to their respective countries".

Among the five Britons released was 28-year-old Aiden Aslin, captured in April in Mariupol and sentenced to death in June by a court of the self-proclaimed separatist republic of Donetsk for "mercenary activities" along with his 49-year-old compatriot Shaun Pinner, who was taken prisoner in similar circumstances. 

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Riot police arrested protesters during a protest against the mobilization in Moscow, Russia

 News of the release of five British citizens puts an end to "months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families".

British Prime Minister Liz Truss said so.

Truss thanked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "for his efforts to secure the release of the detainees and Saudi Arabia for their assistance."

"Russia must end the ruthless exploitation of prisoners of war and civilian detainees for political ends," she added.

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Vladimir Putin

Tension rose this morning when President Putin gave a speech in which he announced a partial mobilization in Russia, with the recall of the military from the reserve.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "partial mobilization" of reserve forces to "defend Russia" that "the West wants to destroy", assured that Lugansk "has already been almost completely cleansed of the Nazis" and reiterated that the objectives of the special military operation remain unchanged, ending his eagerly awaited address to the nation with a series of threats on nuclear weapons.

"We will certainly use all military means at our disposal to defend the country and the people. It is not a bluff," the head of the Kremlin said in the pre-recorded video speech.

according to which the West wants to "weaken, divide and destroy Russia".

"Those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know we have them too."

According to Putin, the West, which "openly says it dissolved the USSR in 1991", now believes that "the time has come to do the same with Russia". 

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Russian airliners

This message has thrown Russian citizens into a state of confusion, in addition to the protests in Russian cities, many have thought about leaving the country.

Tickets for flights out of Russia, to countries where Russian citizens do not need a visa, are sold out by lunchtime, and their price has soared.

In the afternoon they weren't even for the next rounds.

Those who have not wanted or been able to try to escape by air are trying by land, Hundreds of people headed for the only gate still open with Europe, the border with Finland, where in the afternoon there was a queue of tens of kilometers to leave the country.

The threat of resorting to the nuclear threat worried Western countries, but it was also considered a sign of weakness.

The latest decision by the Russian president calls for a new round of EU sanctions against Moscow.

The president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with CNN.

"President Putin is showing his weakness now, because it shows that he is trying to mobilize less trained, less experienced, less motivated personnel. So I think this again calls for sanctions on our part," said von der Leyen.

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Ursula von der Leyen today in plenary with the colors of Ukraine

The head of EU foreign policy, Josep Borrell, confirmed the ad hoc meeting of Foreign Ministers to discuss a common line on the Ukrainian conflict, after the speech with which Russian President Vladimir Putin warned not to rule out the use of deterrence The common line includes full support for sovereignty and democracy and the diplomatic effort to end hostilities: "The question of sanctions will certainly be on the table, and we have already said that in the event of a referendum or annexation, new sanctions will come. "towards Moscow, he concluded.

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Josep Borrell

The conflict in Ukraine "is the war of one man", Vladimir Putin, who in pursuit of "imperial ambitions" wants to "extinguish Ukraine's right to exist as a state", by resorting to "farce referendum" and "reckless and irresponsible nuclear threats" ": Joe Biden attacks the Tsar head-on in front of the audience of the UN General Assembly (Prime Minister Mario Draghi is also present), responding to him a few hours after his decision to raise the level of the clash with a partial mobilization of 300 thousand reservists and agitating the spectrum of the atomic bomb.

China, on the other hand, urges dialogue after Putin's speech: "We ask interested parties to achieve a ceasefire through dialogue and consultation and to find a solution that satisfies the legitimate security concerns of all parties as soon as possible" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in the daily briefing on the latest news from Moscow.

Last week Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, for the first time since Moscow's aggression on Ukraine, met in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) country summit. which also rallied Asian leaders to define a new "international order" challenging Western influence.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses Chinese President Xi Jinping

Finally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, replying to an interview with Bild, said: "I don't think he will use these weapons. I don't think the world will allow him to use them."

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Zelensky to the United Nations Security Council