Alexei Navalny death: hundreds detained in Russia at memorial events, rights group says
- This is the largest wave of arrests at political events since over 1,300 were detained at protests over partial mobilisation of reservists for the Ukraine war
- The largest numbers of arrests occurred in St Petersburg and Moscow, where the opposition figure’s movement had traditionally been strong
More than 400 people have been detained at events across 32 Russian cities since the death of Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable opponent, according to rights group OVD-Info, as Russians continued to gather and lay flowers.
It has been the largest wave of arrests at political events in Russia since Sept. 2022, when more than 1,300 were arrested at demonstrations against a “partial mobilisation” of reservists for Putin’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence, the prison service said.
OVD-Info, which reports on freedom of assembly in Russia, said the largest numbers of arrests occurred in St Petersburg and Moscow, where Navalny’s support had traditionally been strong. As of 11pm local time on Saturday, more than 200 people were detained in St. Petersburg.
But there was no mention of the events on Russian state news agencies, which are under full Kremlin control. There were also no stories about the hundreds of people across Russia who have continued to defy authorities to lay flowers at impromptu Navalny memorials.