Dozens Detained as Russians Protest Mobilization in Siberia, Far East

Dozens of people have been detained across Russia on Wednesday as residents of Siberia and the Far East rallied against a “partial” military mobilization declared by President Vladimir Putin for the war in Ukraine.  According to the independent OVD-Info police monitor, at least 66 protesters have been detained nationwide so far. In the Siberian city of Irkutsk, at least 10 of 60 protesters who gathered at a central square were detained, according to local activists.  Small groups of protesters also gathered in Ulan-Ude, the capital of the republic of Buryatia; Yakutsk, the capital of the republic of Sakha; and the Far East city of Khabarovsk, the 7x7 news outlet reported.  Protesters in Ulan-Ude were seen carrying handwritten signs reading “No war! No mobilization!” and “Our husbands, fathers and brothers don’t want to kill other husbands and fathers.”

In the Siberian city of Tomsk, a female protester carrying a sign reading “Hug me if you are also scared” was among the 15 people detained shortly after the start of the protest, according to local Telegram news channel Ulitsa Barkhatnaya. In Novosibirsk, Russia’s third-largest city, video published to social media showed a protester shouting “I don’t want to die for putin or for you!” The Vesna opposition movement as well as supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called on Russians nationwide to take to the streets on Wednesday evening to oppose the Kremlin’s decision to bolster its forces in Ukraine with a “partial” mobilization.  A total of 300,000 Russian reservists are expected to be called up for military service during the campaign, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. 

But the mobilization efforts could be more far-reaching given the vague wording of the mobilization decree, according to human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov, who has been helping Russian soldiers opposed to the war.

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