The man took away the poster and knocked to the ground a participant in a solo picket against blogger Alexei Navalny. The incident took place near the Krasnye Vorota metro station in Moscow, where on Sunday, January 31, an uncoordinated action by the blogger’s supporters is taking place.
A young man was standing near the entrance to the subway with a poster “Navalny is a traitor.” After some time, another man approached him, tore the poster, knocked him to the ground, and then kicked him in the head.
After that, he was detained by riot police officers.
On January 31, uncoordinated protests are held in a number of Russian cities in support of the arrested blogger Alexei Navalny. In the Far East, the events were few. In Moscow, according to the press service of the Moscow regional security department, about 300 people took to the streets.
On the eve of the capital’s Department of Transport, with reference to the Center for Traffic Management (TSODD), informed that on Sunday in Moscow it will be prohibited to park cars on Mokhovaya and Okhotny Ryad streets, Teatralny and Kitaygorodsky passages, Novaya Ploshchad, as well as on Moskvoretskaya and Kremlin embankments. Also from 8:00 the entrance and exit stations of the Moscow metro stations Aleksandrovsky Sad, Teatralnaya, Okhotny Ryad, Ploshchad Revolyutsii, Kuznetsky Most, Lubyanka and Kitay-Gorod are closed, restrictions have been introduced for movement of pedestrians.
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs urged citizens to refrain from participating in unauthorized actions on January 31. On January 29, the press service of the department also warned that for participation in uncoordinated actions, responsibility threatens, including under the article on mass disorders. It was noted that under Art. 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, organizing mass riots is punishable by imprisonment for a term of eight to 15 years. The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation addressed the citizens with a similar warning.
On January 23, uncoordinated actions took place in different cities of Russia. There were also children among the detainees. Investigators opened a number of criminal cases, including the use of violence against government officials, involvement of minors in illegal activities, hooliganism and violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules.
Navalny was arrested upon his return to the Russian Federation from Germany, where he was undergoing treatment after allegedly poisoning with the Novichok substance. No relevant evidence was presented. In Russia, the blogger was wanted for repeated violations of the probationary period and the conditions of his conditional release from December 29, 2020. He was repeatedly warned that these violations could lead to the cancellation of the conditional release. The UFSIN took into account the fact that since August 22 last year, the Russian, according to published data, has been treated in the Berlin clinic “Charite”. As indicated in the clinic, the blogger was discharged on September 23. However, Navalny did not show up for registration, according to which he was put on the wanted list.
In addition, at the end of December, a criminal case was opened against the blogger for embezzlement of donations to a number of his organizations in the amount of 356 million rubles. According to the Investigative Committee, part of the funds that were collected from citizens for the needs of a number of non-profit organizations, headed by Navalny, were spent by him for personal purposes.