Russia Opposition Supporters Arrested In Moscow

Some of about two hundred members of the Left Front movement shout anti-President Vladimir Putin slogans in downtown Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 9, 2012. The cat-and-mouse game between protesters and police began on Monday, the day of Putin's inauguration at a formal ceremony inside the Kremlin. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

MOSCOW -- Two of Russia's most prominent opposition leaders were sentenced Wednesday to 15 days in jail, while several dozen opposition activists who tried to stage a "people's stroll" through the city reportedly were detained.

The sentencing of Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny came after several days of attempts by opposition activists to hold unauthorized protests against Vladimir Putin, who was inaugurated for a third term as Russian president on Monday.

Udaltsov and Navalny were detained Sunday when participants in an authorized protest march tried to veer from their sanctioned route and head to the Kremlin. They were released after a few hours, but detained again Tuesday in another unauthorized demonstration. Navalny was released early Wednesday, then detained again a few hours later at another opposition gathering.

Both were sentenced for failing to obey police orders.

Separately, the state news agency RIA Novosti cited an unidentified law enforcement official as saying dozens of people were detained on Wednesday afternoon on Manezh Square adjacent to the Kremlin.

According to the report, opposition supporters wearing trademark white ribbons had earlier taken part in a rally by the Communist Party marking the Victory Day holiday, then tried to stage the so-called "people's stroll."

Police could not immediately be reached for further comment.

The wave of massive protests that broke out in Moscow after December's fraud-marred parliamentary elections had been marked by little interference from police. Demonstrators, whose numbers sometimes appeared to exceed 100,000, stuck carefully to approved venues and march routes; police presence at these rallies was extensive but restrained.

However, police have taken swift and sometimes brutal action to break up unauthorized demonstrations, while the opposition appears to be determined to try to maintain its momentum.

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[hegelian]

03:35 AM on 05/11/2012

Lets face it Russia has been the only country to overthrow the shackles of its ruling class but because the country was "backwards" the people earned rule by Lenin when they should've taken rule for themselves evidently tainting communism for years to come. Russians are truly a great people who cannot be understood simply by reading a blurb on a webpage. I believe if anyone is entitled to discuss & even approach the history of the "revolution" honestly it is certainly for the Russian people to take to task as they move forward.

[rissole]

10:58 PM on 05/10/2012

Those Russians hey. They arrest people for demonstrating. That wouldn't happen here.

[Pauline Jaing]

10:48 PM on 05/10/2012

The opposition in Russia are communists! The Communist Party of Russia got 17 percent of the 20 percent opposition to Putin's Party.

So its hilarious to read these posts!

Frankly, I'd prefer a secular state with social democratic economics; but if I have to choose between Islam, Chirstianity or communist forms of state religon, I'll take the latter because they at least TRY to be scientific.

[wetcoastm]

06:36 PM on 05/10/2012

I wonder if they were detained for wearing masks..

[Jan Harper]

03:11 PM on 05/10/2012

Meh, I like commies in general but they are too weak to stand up to the American Empire.

[June25]

12:17 PM on 05/10/2012

And how offen do we read some liberal calling for a round up of conservatives.

[Enso]

10:21 AM on 05/10/2012

Protest and its route was approved and authorized.
Organizers of said protest tried instead to crush the inauguration and get some valuable international camera face-time.
They were detained because of it. Most were released. Leaders were charged with a misdemeanor.
Like it's done in every civilized country

Those who spout hysterical denunciations of Russian government because of that are irrational.

[Chloe CZ]

08:17 AM on 05/10/2012

Russia has specific national context. i don' t think it's very wise to attempt to compare every political issue of other countries to the American democratic standard. Days ago, a Russian friend expressed his anger against Putin's dictatorship, however, remarked the fact of thousands of opposites demonstrating in downtown as an advancement of "democracy" in Russia.

[Andrashka]

08:43 AM on 05/10/2012

Exactly !

I'm your second fan !

[Nico Jordaan]

07:54 AM on 05/10/2012

Great the Russians learned from the Americans to just throw the protestors in Jail. @OWS

[randallavery]

07:45 AM on 05/10/2012

The people of Russia needs to terminate their opposition.

[grouston]

07:31 AM on 05/10/2012

Putin is a dictator, rigged the rescent elections, his KGB background speaks volumes about his agenda, I feel for the Rusian people, they are going backwards. The evil empire is still alve and well, this is where we need a really strong president to stand up to Putin and others that oppress their people.

[Nico Jordaan]

07:56 AM on 05/10/2012

Yeah Time Magezine Man of the Year 2008. Every single president in the World kissed his hiney because of his awesome growth figures...Say WHAT? You have no idea who Putin is nor are you a russian obviously.

[June25]

12:15 PM on 05/10/2012

Being Time Mag.Man of the Year doen not mean he is a good person just that people should keep an eye on him.

[Tsvi1]

12:19 PM on 05/10/2012

Not to say anything about Putin, but the MotY award is not for "good" people, it is for those who were particularly influential. That includes evil people such as Hitler and Stalin.

[24b4Jeff]

06:34 AM on 05/10/2012

Don't get me wrong: I am no fan of Vladimir Putin. But it is somewhat sensationalistic to compare the arrest of peaceful protesters in Moscow with the brutal and ongoing suppression of opposition in China. What the Russians are doing is more or less the same thing the Americans are doing to the OWS protestors. I suppose HP and most of its readership has become too main stream to recognize the repression that is going on right here.

[Davey Johnson]

07:00 AM on 05/10/2012

Do you think that the FBI is dragging people out of their beds and abusing them in secret locations, threatening their families, destroying their careers and livelihoods? I must have missed that part.

[wetcoastm]

06:44 PM on 05/10/2012

Are you kidding? The man is on his third term is some how a billionaire even though he does not work in private industry and his machine murders journalists and political advisaries in his country and the former soviet satellite states. They are absolutely correct to be in the streets and if you think they are not capable of the suppression tactics of China then you are forgetting Chechnya.

[mahnistanah]

05:05 AM on 05/10/2012

15 days? 15 days isn't fun, but for the soviets that's not even a slap on the wrist. Maybe things are really changing over there huh.

[AfisF]

03:09 AM on 05/10/2012

I don't see what the problem is. Guys get 15 days for *repeatedly* staging unauthorized protests, which as someone has pointed out is no different to the sentence someone may get for hooliganism. There are no countries where you can simply walk out and protest without a permit, no matter how democratic. Riot police exist everywhere. So why is it when Russian authorities react to unauthorized protests in the same way that any other country would, it's made to look like it's some kind of a mass purge?

[hegelian]

03:17 AM on 05/11/2012

here's a challenge do you know when and why "permits" were required by the law in most countries?

* Hint the law serves those who make the laws first.

[Nico Jordaan]

02:59 AM on 05/10/2012

RT covers all the breaking OWS protests going on, the US media ignores. Huffpost covers all Russia's protests...How nice tit for tat...Who is the worst government, I still recon the US wins that award..Looking at Growth ect...

[Davey Johnson]

07:01 AM on 05/10/2012

Wow, that's ugly.