Russia cracks down at home as its troops invade Ukraine

Police detain over 1,600 anti-war protesters at rallies in more than 50 cities

In acts of cautious, but unusual dissent, Russian pop stars, journalists, a television comedian and a footballer opposed the war online

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Police officers detain demonstrators in St Petersburg, Russia on Thursday. Photo: AP

Published: 5:15am, 25 Feb 2022Updated: 1:32pm, 9 Mar 2022

Police on Thursday detained more than 1,600 Russians who protested against Russia’s multipronged military operation in Ukraine, while authorities threatened to block media reports that contain what Moscow described as “false information”.

In acts of cautious, but unusual dissent, Russian pop stars, journalists, a television comedian and a footballer opposed the war online after President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday.

By 10.49pm, police had detained 1,667 people at rallies in 53 cities, the OVD-Info rights monitor said, easily the biggest tally since last year’s crushing of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s network ushered in an ice age in activism.

Protesters defied a warning issued on Thursday by the Investigative Committee, a kind of Russian answer to the FBI, that explicitly threatened criminal action and even jail time for people calling for or taking part in protests.

Police officers detain a protester in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on Thursday. Photo: AP

“I was detained on my way out of the house,” Marina Litvinovich, a Moscow-based activist, wrote on Telegram after she called on Russians in a Facebook post on Thursday morning to protest later that evening.