Thousands of Russians took to the streets of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other cities across the country on Sunday to protest Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government's restriction of candidates in the upcoming March 18 presidential election. Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who called for the protests, was arrested en route to the Moscow demonstration; he was released Sunday night while prosecutors reportedly prepare charges for organizing unauthorized protests. Navalny wants people to boycott the election, which Putin is all but guaranteed to win.
Hours before Navalny's arrest, police in Moscow raided his headquarters in the middle of a live video transmission, detaining one anchor, Dmitri Nizovtsev, and Navalny's Moscow coordinator, Nikolai Lyaskin, The Associated Press reports, citing Russian media. Some 257 people were arrested in the demonstrations nationwide, according to the monitoring group OVD-Info. Navalny has been barred from running in the election due to a fraud conviction widely seen as politically engineered. His arrest and the police raid of his studio — one anchor said police used a power grinder to break into the studio, claiming there was a bomb threat — were captured on video.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What to know about private equity in your 401(k)the explainer BlackRock is making private investments available in employer-sponsored retirement plans
-
The unsteady pace of Formula 1's US popularityIn Depth The racing sport is immensely popular in Europe but has seen mixed success in the US
-
An American girl takes on London, 'Bosch' gets another spinoff and Washington Black leaps from page to screen in July TVthe week recommends This month's new television releases include 'Too Much,' 'Ballard' and 'Washington Black'
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
