This Friday, Russian security forces arrested dozens of people Funeral of Russian opponent Alexei Navalnywho died on February 16 while in prison serving a sentence of about 30 years for fraud and extremism.
The NGO OVD-Info, which specializes in monitoring arrests, has pointed out that the arrests have spread to several cities in the country, including Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Nizhnevartovsk, Kazan and Zlatoust, among others. The organization stated that many of those detained were arrested while trying to travel to Moscow from other provinces of the country to attend the funeral It only lasted 20 minutes after the religious authorities came under “pressure”. to shorten the duration, as activists and supporters of Navalni have denounced.
Among those arrested is Pavel Sichev, adviser to Russian opposition candidate Boris Nadezhdin, criticizes the Russian invasion of Ukraine and whose candidacy for the March presidential election was rejected by the electoral commission, in what many see as a move by the authorities to pave the way for re-election for President Vladimir Putin.
In the city of Novosibirsk, 18 people were arrested after laying flowers during a vigil, according to The Moscow Times newspaper. Among them is deputy mayor Anton Kartavin. Ten other people were also arrested in Yekaterinburg, also for laying flowers in memory of the Russian opponent.
“The formal reason for these arrests could be participation in previous events commemorating the politician, but most of these arrests are aimed at intimidating activists and supporters of Navalni,” OVD-Info said in a Telegram message.