Putin compared protesters in Moscow to “yellow vests”

Putin spoke for the first time about mass protests in Moscow - before that, outlined the president's position, saying that there is "certainly" nothing out of the ordinary in the rallies, and the Kremlin does not coordinate the reaction of the security forces, but considers their actions justified. Dmitry Peskov

What happened. For the first time, Putin has personally commented on the protests in Moscow. This happened at the beginning of a meeting with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at his residence in the south of the country - Fort Bregancon - on the eve of the G7 summit. This is probably why Putin likened the rallies and marches in the Russian capital to regular "yellow vest" actions in France.

Quote. "We all know the events associated with the so-called "yellow vests", during which, according to our estimates, about 11 people died, 2.5 thousand were injured, including 2 thousand policemen ... We would not want so that such events take place in the Russian capital, and we will do everything to ensure that our internal political situation develops strictly within the framework of the current law."

• Putin said that citizens, by law, have the right to peaceful protests and that he personally welcomes authorized mass events, rallies, which in July and August "passed peacefully, and without any excesses."
• However, he is strongly against clashes with the authorities: "This is a violation of the law, and everyone who is guilty of these violations must be held accountable in accordance with this very Russian law."

Context. The "yellow vest" protests, which have become weekly, began in France last November as protests against rising fuel prices. Then the list of demands was expanded with social demands on the Macron government, and then political ones, up to the resignation of the President of France.

• The scope, cruelty and mass nature of the protests in France are incomparably greater than what happened this summer on the streets of Moscow. We are talking about crowds of ten thousand in Paris and dispersal of protests with the involvement of up to 80,000 police officers, rubber bullets and tear gas.
• Property damage from a single action in Paris alone, as a rule, exceeded 1 million euros. The December 2018 protests, when up to 100 cars were burned a day, were compared in intensity and mass to the student protests of 1968. Even so, more than 1,500 people were rarely detained per day.
• On July 14, 27 and August 3, unauthorized actions were held in Moscow against the ban on independent candidates from participating in elections to the Moscow City Duma. The police detained a total of up to 1.7 thousand people for participating in the rallies. The Investigative Committee opened criminal cases on riots (part 2 of article 212 of the Criminal Code) and attacks on government officials (part 2 of article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). With regard to 14 people, a preventive measure in the form of detention was applied. The heaviest act was the throwing of an urn at a member of the National Guard .