The Kremlin on Sunday accused the US of interfering in Russia’s domestic affairs and downplayed the scale of the weekend’s protests, when tens of thousands rallied in support of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
More than 3,500 demonstrators were detained in protests across the country on Saturday, with several injured in clashes with police in Moscow, following Navalny’s call to rally against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 20-year rule.
The West has widely condemned the “harsh tactics” used against demonstrators, with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian saying on Sunday that the mass arrest of protesters was “an intolerable affront” and a “slide toward authoritarianism.”
Photo: AP
Polish President Andrzej Duda has called for the EU to step up sanctions against Russia over the treatment of Navalny, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
“The only way to [avoid conflict] is to force international law to be observed. The only way to do this without rifles, cannons and bombs is via sanctions,” Duda told the newspaper.
He also said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell should reconsider plans to visit Russia next month unless Navalny is released.
EU foreign ministers were due to consider their response to Navalny’s detention yesterday, with Borrell saying the “next steps” would be discussed.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday accused the US embassy of interfering in Russia’s domestic affairs after the mission distributed a “demonstration alert” to US citizens in Russia recommending they avoid protests.
“Of course, these publications are inappropriate,” Peskov told a state TV channel. “And of course indirectly, they are absolutely an interference in our domestic affairs.”
A US mission spokeswoman said US embassies and consulates around the world routinely issue safety messages to US citizens.
“This is a common, routine practice of many countries’ diplomatic missions,” she told reporters on Sunday.
The US embassy in Moscow on Saturday said that Washington supported “the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression.”
Peskov also accused protest organizers of seeking to “rock the boat” and said the number of people who had demonstrated paled in comparison to Putin supporters.
“A lot of people vote for Putin,” Peskov said, pointing to last year’s constitutional plebiscite that allowed 68-year-old Putin to remain in power until 2036.
Navalny, Putin’s most prominent critic, was last weekend arrested on returning to Moscow following months of treatment in Germany for a near-fatal poisoning with a Soviet-designed Novichok nerve agent.
He then called for Saturday’s unauthorized protests, which took on an unprecedented geographic scale, spanning more than 100 cities.
About 20,000 people protested in Moscow and more than 10,000 in St Petersburg, according to estimates from Agence France-Presse journalists, with rallies also held in numerous countries including France and Lithuania.
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