Thousands attend proNavalny rallies
MOSCOW: Police rounded up more than 1700 protesters yesterday as Russians in dozens of cities took part in rallies organised by allies of hungerstriking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny over his failing health in jail.
His spokeswoman was jailed for 10 days, and another close ally detained, on the same day President Vladimir Putin delivered a stateofthenation speech warning the West not to cross Russia’s ‘‘red lines’’ and pointedly making no mention of Navalny.
‘‘This is one of the last gasps of a free Russia, as many are saying. We came out for Alexei . . . against a war in Ukraine and the wild propaganda,’’ said Marina, a student at the Moscow protest.
OVDInfo, a group that monitors protests and detentions, said 1782 people had been arrested, including 804 in St Petersburg and 119 in the Urals city of Ufa.
Protesters in central Moscow chanted, ‘‘Freedom to Navalny!’’ and ‘‘Let the doctors in!’’. Navalny’s wife, Yulia, joined the rally in the capital.
Police said 6000 people protested illegally in Moscow, while Alexey Venediktov, a veteran journalist and head of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, said 10,00015,000 people had rallied in Moscow and 70009000 in St Petersburg.
The 44yearold, who last year survived a nerve agent attack that Russian authorities denied carrying out, is thin and weak after starving himself for three weeks, and his allies say he risks kidney failure or cardiac arrest.
The United States has warned Russia it will face ‘‘consequences’’ if he dies.
State human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said four doctors from outside the federal prison agency had visited Navalny on Wednesday and found no serious health problems. Russia says he has been treated as would any other prisoner.
Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, and an ally, Lyubov Sobol, were detained near their Moscow homes hours before the rally in the capital. European Council president Charles Michel called their arrests ‘‘deplorable’’.
Yarmysh was later jailed for 10 days for inciting people to protest. Sobol was released ahead of a hearing today.
Navalny aide Ruslan Shaveddinov tweeted: ‘‘This is repression. This cannot be accepted. We need to fight this darkness.’’