Detentions throughout the country: results of protests against the war with Ukraine on February 24–27

English version

Information about detainees

From February 24 to February 27, 5,935 people were detained in more than 70 cities of Russia.

February 24: 1977 detained in 67 cities of Russia. Here is a list of those detained by city ( read about the results of the first day of the anti-war protest here )

February 25: 625 detained in 33 cities of Russia. Here isa list of those detained by city.

February 26: 529 detained in 36 cities of Russia. Here is a list of those detained by city.

February 27: 2802 detained in 56 cities. Here is a list of those detained by city (some of the people were detained in connection with rallies in memory of Boris Nemtsov, who was killed on February 27, 2015).

What the detainees are charged with: violating the rules of participation in a rally (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), repeated violation of the rules of participation in a rally (Part 8 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), organizing or conducting a rally (Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences), disobedience at the request of a police officer (Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences), organizing the simultaneous presence of citizens in a public place, resulting in a violation of public order (Part 1 of Article 20.2.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences), petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences), obstructing city infrastructure (Part. 6.1 Article 20.2 Code of Administrative Offences). There are also individual cases of application of Art. 20.6.1 Code of Administrative Offenses (failure to comply with the rules of conduct in an emergency), 8.6.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of St. Petersburg (violation of “coronavirus” restrictions), 6.9 Code of Administrative Offenses (drug use), 20.1 Code of Administrative Offenses (petty hooliganism).

What they face: under various parts of administrative articles, detainees face fines from two thousand to 300 thousand rubles and arrest for up to 30 days.

Violence and other illegal actions by security forces

• On February 25 in Moscow, a person detained near the Pushkinskaya metro station was not allowed to leave the paddy wagon to go to the toilet. As a result, he had to relieve himself in a bottle.
• In St. Petersburg, a person detained at an anti-war rally on February 25 was beaten in a paddy wagon by police officers.
• In Moscow, at an anti-war rally on February 26, police kicked a man and hit his head on the hood of a car because he refused to hand over his passport to them.
• At a rally on February 27 in St. Petersburg, police threw human rights activist Andrei Kalikh over a fence and detained him. Information about his condition varies: he was diagnosed with either a dislocation or a fracture of his arm.
• At a rally on February 27 in Moscow, police forced a group of anti-war protesters to face a wall.
• In St. Petersburg, during an anti-war rally on February 27, a police officer hit a protester on the head with a baton. After that, several other police officers carried him into the paddy wagon in their arms.
• In different cities, protesters were laid on the asphalt during arrest, and the arrests were accompanied by blows and pokes. In Nizhny Novgorod on February 27, during the arrest of the head of the Nizhny Novgorod Red Cross, police used a stun gun.
• In St. Petersburg, at a rally on February 27, a riot police officer hit one of the protesters on the head during an arrest. After that she felt bad.
• In St. Petersburg, the police pulled down the trousers of one of the detainees, and in Izhevsk - the jacket.
• In St. Petersburg, a tire of a bus carrying detainees caught fire, sending smoke into the cabin.

Detention of journalists

• In Moscow, at an anti-war rally on February 25, the police detained SOTA correspondent Gleb Sokolov.
• In St. Petersburg, at a protest on February 26, police detained Avtozak LIVE journalist Ekaterina Goncharova.
• On February 26, Dmitry Golubovsky, editor of Arzamas and former editor-in-chief of Esquire, was detained in Moscow. The reason was his refusal, at the request of the local police officer, to remove from the window a poster with the flag of Ukraine and the inscription “No to war” on it.
• In Yekaterinburg on February 26, police detained RusNews journalist Matvey Golovanov.
• In Moscow on February 26, at the Ukrainian Embassy, ​​security forces detained the head of the RBC industry department, Timofey Dzyadko.
• In Moscow, on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, during an action on February 27, The Times newspaper correspondent Mark Bennetts and Dozhd journalist Eduard Burmistrov were detained .
• In Moscow, during an action on February 27 on Novy Arbat, Dozhd cameraman Andrei Karasev was detained .

Criminal proceedings

So far, two criminal cases have been reported for anti-war protests. On February 24, in Moscow on Pushkin Square, a girl threw a Molotov cocktail towards the security forces. On February 27, a man crashed a car with anti-war slogans into a barrier on Pushkin Square, and then set the car on fire. The girl was sent to a pre-trial detention center under the article on violence against police officers (Article 318 of the Criminal Code), and a case of hooliganism was opened against the man (Article 213 of the Criminal Code). Nothing is known yet about the preventive measure chosen for him.

Resistance without leaders

75-year-old St. Petersburg artist Marina was detained by police at a protest on February 26, when she was talking with her daughter and her friend. They all came together to the rally at Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg. In the end, she was released because the paddy wagon was full. But her daughter was taken to the police department.

“When everything was still calm, people were just gathering. I approached the police myself. The children told me that I shouldn’t, but I still came up,” Marina tells OVD-Info. “I tell them: ‘How are you anyway? Your job must be difficult.” They answered me: “We are doing our duty.” I say: “Well, at least don’t grab the girls, okay, let’s take the guys.” They asked me: “What, do you want to divide disobedience by gender?” I said: “Well, I would like to.” As soon as I walked away from them, they dragged my daughter into a paddy wagon before my eyes.” This is Marina's first event.

Standing next to her in the crowd of protesters is 60-year-old Tatyana. She clutches a flower in her hands and constantly adjusts the mask falling off her face. This is also her first time at a protest. “I haven’t gone to such events lately, but in [19]91 I also went. It’s scary then and now, of course. But we need to go out. It’s even worse there: war, people are dying. And the economic consequences for the country, and human casualties... Everything is frightening. But if we don’t come out now, how will we look our children in the eyes later?” - says Tatyana, barely holding back tears.

Rostislav, 65, stands in one of the front rows, very close to police officers who keep reporting that protesters are violating coronavirus-related bans on mass gatherings. “I’m not afraid that they’ll detain me,” he notes. “I understand perfectly well that they can detain me simply because I’m standing here.” In our country, even if you remain silent against the authorities, you are already a criminal. Stop being afraid already. They were afraid for 20 years. Now I’m not afraid of anything anymore.”

Rostislav grew up in Donbass. For him, the start of Russian military operations on the territory of Ukraine is also a personal tragedy. “Unfortunately, the occupied part there is poisoned by Russian propaganda, like most of the Russian population. But now I’m standing here, next to honest, pure and open people,” the man adds.

25-year-old Galina stands far from the crowd. “I always go to protests if I can,” she says. — Recently, it has turned more into escapes from large people in black uniforms (riot police officers - OVD-Info ). But now something terrible is happening in the country. People come here not only to show the world that we are against the war with Ukraine, but also to feel unity in their position.”

The scale of speeches is approaching a record since Putin came to power. Citizens expressed approximately the same level of dissatisfaction a year ago in connection with the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, his arrest upon returning to Russia and the publication of a film about Vladimir Putin’s palace in Gelendzhik. But then there was a network of headquarters of Alexei Navalny and other opposition groups in the country, simultaneously operating in different cities. Over the course of 2021, repression has intensified: hundreds of people have been criminally prosecuted for political reasons, and thousands have fled the country for fear of persecution.

How do arrests happen?

There are many known cases of arrests for single pickets against the war, people with yellow-blue (the colors of the Ukrainian flag) balloons or flowers, badges, medical masks or clothes with pacifist symbols. The police come to people hanging anti-war posters in their windows. Other reasons for arrests include posts and reposts announcing actions, distributing leaflets, or writing anti-war messages on walls.

In Moscow, detainees spoke of overcrowded paddy wagons. In St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, city buses were sometimes used instead of paddy wagons.