At least 1,341 people were arrested in Russia on Wednesday, September 21, during spontaneous demonstrations against the partial mobilization for the offensive in Ukraine, announced in the morning by President Vladimir Putin, according to an NGO. These are the largest protests in Russia since those following the announcement of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine in late February. According to OVD-Info, an organization specializing in counting arrests, the mobilizations took place in at least 38 cities in the country.
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AFP journalists in Moscow saw at least 50 arrests on one of the capital’s central arteries. In St. Petersburg, Russia’s second city, a whole bus of arrested people was taken by the police to the center. The demonstrators chanted “No to war!” and “No mobilization!”.