Prosecutors try to block online calls for protests
MOSCOW — Russian prosecutors moved Friday to block calls on social networks for more street protests in Moscow and other Russian cities after a wave of rallies that have cast a new challenge to the Kremlin.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out in Moscow and other cities Sunday to rally against official corruption in the largest outpouring of discontent in years.
The prosecutor general’s office confirmed Friday it has requested the state communications watchdog to block pages on social networks calling for more protests in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia coming Sunday.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who organized Sunday’s unsanctioned protest, is serving a 15-day sentence on charges of resisting police.
More than 1,000 protesters have been arrested in Moscow, and many of them also have been sentenced to brief jail terms and fines. A dozen people working for Navalny are among those serving jail time.
The U.S. and the European Union have criticized the crackdown and urged Russia to release all detainees, but President Vladimir Putin has rejected the criticism as meddling in Russia’s internal affairs.
Without naming Navalny, Putin, who faces re-election in March 2018, has denounced those protest organizers who try to use anticorruption slogans in “narrow selfish political goals.”
Navalny has declared his intention to run for president and vowed to appeal a conviction that bars him from the race, which he denounced as politically driven.
Putin pledged to fight corruption but also warned that the government wouldn’t allow any breach of law. He drew parallels with the Arab Spring uprisings in Africa and the Middle East and protests in Ukraine that toppled a Russiafriendly president in 2014.