Record numbers of people have been detained at anti-war protests across Russia since the country’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
Although mass coordinated protests have been hampered by the Russian authorities’ wholesale attack on opposition organisations in recent years, people are still coming out to protest against the war – with pickets, unsanctioned rallies and statements online. In response, the police have detained protesters and passers-by en masse, and subjected them, on occasion, to brutal treatment.
On 6 March, 2,500 people were detained in Moscow in connection with several anti-war protests in the Russian capital.
