Russian police arrested at least twenty journalists on Saturday, February 3, during a rally organized in Moscow near the Kremlin by wives of soldiers fighting in Ukraine, who are demanding the return of their husbands from the front.
An AFP videographer arrested during this demonstration indicated that around 20 to 25 journalists, all men, found themselves with him in a police van. They were taken to a police station for identity checks.
Among those arrested are several employees of foreign media: the American press agency AP, the Dutch media NOS, the German magazine Spiegel and a French independent reporter.
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Before these arrests, according to the AFP videographer, between 40 and 50 mobilized women had placed flowers on the tomb of the unknown soldier under the walls of the Kremlin, very close to Red Square.
According to the independent media Sota Vision, some arrests of people demonstrating against the military mobilization also took place in Moscow in front of the headquarters of Vladimir Putin's electoral campaign for the presidential election.
On Telegram in the morning, the Moscow prosecutor's office warned of possible prosecution in the event of participation in "unauthorized demonstrations".
Call to demonstrate every Saturday
For several weeks, wives of soldiers mobilized to fight in Ukraine have met regularly as a sign of protest.
The anger of relatives of the reservists mobilized on the orders of Vladimir Putin in September 2022 is a sensitive subject for the authorities, who have until now been careful not to repress this emerging rebellious movement.
Several groups on social networks intended for relatives of mobilized soldiers have emerged in recent months. One of the most active, called “Pout Domoï” (“The way to go home”), calls for demonstrations every Saturday.
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Previously, during other demonstrations of this type in Moscow, the police had refrained from intervening, although any start of protest is usually severely repressed in Russia.
The activism of mobilized women has been largely ignored by Russian state media, while the Kremlin is keen to display an image of unity around Vladimir Putin before his inevitable re-election in the March 2024 presidential election.
According to Vladimir Putin, 244,000 mobilized troops are currently fighting in Ukraine out of a total force of 617,000 men.
With AFP
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