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There was nothing subtle about the stance of authorities ahead of Sunday’s protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Beginning early morning, police sliced off central Moscow from cars and pedestrians. A dozen metro stations were shuttered. Thousands of riot police were placed behind concentric rings of metal and barking dogs.
Speaking over crackling tannoys, officers explained the unprecedented move. Large crowds were undesirable during the pandemic, they said. The cosmonauts — that is how riot police are known colloquially — well, they were only there to ensure proper social distancing and mask wearing.
The massive police presence, of course, was there to serve another purpose: to warn people away from a repeat of last Saturday’s protest, when tens of thousands turned out to issue a very public warning to President Vladimir Putin.
Blunt an instrument as it was, closing down Moscow’s city centre did appear to put the Kremlin back on the front foot.
The lines of metal fencing meant Alexey Navalny’s team was forced at last minute to change the location of the rally. Moving the focus from Lubyanka, the headquarters of Russia’s security agency, to two nondescript metro stations immediately outside the police ring had the effect of turning the protest into a day of cat and mouse.
Protesters moved from one location to another, eventually heading towards the prison where Mr Navalny is being held in north-eastern Moscow. They were never able to congregate in the same overwhelming ways as last Saturday. The crowds were both more dispersed and less voluminous. According to the Interior Ministry, just 2,000 turned out in the capital. Opposition groups put the number at tens of thousands.
The police response was also noticeably harsher than last weekend. Some of the most violent clashes took place in the northern capital St Petersburg, with reports of tear gas, and several serious truncheon injuries.
Even in Moscow, the arrests were occasionally brutal. Police hunted in customary groups of threes and fours. Most of the time, the arrested did not appear to be committing any offence. Sometimes they were marched to the vans politely enough. Other times, they were dragged by the scruff of their necks. Many of the arrested were young. Some were crying as they were bundled into the waiting vans. Not all those doing the arresting were in uniform – a feature in common with policing in neighbouring Belarus.
Yulia Navalnaya, wife of the opposition leader, was one of at least 3,000 bundled into vans nationwide — a number that is set to rise significantly as the day rolls on.
Police detain a man during a rally in Moscow
(AFP via Getty Images)
Some of those demonstrating expressed frustration at “confusing” signals from Team Navalny. Maria, a public relations executive, surname withheld, said second steps didn’t appear to be well planned.
“With the odds stacked against us, we need to be playing a better game than this,” she said. “It isn’t enough to put messages up on social media and hope for the best.”
The Kremlin will certainly hope today marks a turning point after two weeks of playing catch-up to their jailed nemesis. This week, Vladimir Putin was forced to deny he owned an opulent luxury palace following a viral investigation video released by Mr Navalny from his prison cell. The video has already been watched more than 100 million times.
On Saturday, Mr Putin’s close friend and childhood judo partner Arkady Rotenberg offered himself as the owner of the building. He described it as an “apartment-hotel” development.
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