Russian opposition activists were detained at a democratic forum in Moscow. The Kremlin says they have violated the Covid-19 protocol

Russian opposition activists were detained at a democratic forum in Moscow. The Kremlin says they have violated the Covid-19 protocol

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On Saturday, municipal delegates from the Russian regions gathered in the Russian capital to discuss parliamentary and local elections – scheduled for September – at a forum held by the United Democrats, a project aimed at holding competitive elections supported, according to their website.

Opposition activist Ilya Yashin said police broke up the forum 40 minutes after the incident and detained about 150 deputies.

“A very symbolic end to a short forum: delegates in police buses and masked police wringing people’s arms,” ​​Yashin said on Facebook.

“But no one promised us freedom on a silver platter. Russia will be free anyway,” he added.

Yashin also posted photos on Twitter of the moment he was taken away from the forum by police and the police van.

Anastasia Burakova, a United Democrat coordinator, told Russian state media RIA Novosti that the forum was held in the Izmailovo Delta Hotel, where municipal deputies from across Russia met to discuss the strategy for the next election cycle and their experiences with to share each other.

“Everyone was detained who participated as well as listener and speaker. No reason was given,” Burakova told RIA Novosti.

In a statement, the Russian Interior Ministry said about 200 people had been detained, citing a breach of coronavirus restrictions.

“In one of the hotel premises in Izmailovsky Highway, a group of residents, representatives of a public organization, made an effort to hold a public event in violation of the established sanitary and epidemiological requirements – a significant part of the participants has personal protection facilities, ”reads the statement from the Ministry of the Interior.

The statement added that “members of an organization whose activities are recognized as undesirable in the territory of the Russian Federation have been identified among the participants”, and that the police have stopped the ‘illegal actions’.

Police on Saturday detained about 200 people who took part in the forum, citing a breach of Covid-19 protocols and "illegal conduct."

Prominent activist and Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara Murza – a longtime colleague and friend of the murdered opposition figure Boris Nemtsov – was listed among the detainees.

Murza, who he said was poisoned in 2015 and 2017, is the chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, a group committed to ‘spreading education, freedom and progressive development’, according to its website.

OVD-Info, an independent monitoring group, said at least 180 people were detained.

Opposition activists have been using force for months, most clearly on January 31, when more than 5,000 people were detained in 85 cities during nationwide protests in support of Navalny.

The Interior Ministry said investigations were being carried out into the activists detained on Saturday, and that a decision would be made in accordance with the law. ‘

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