Russian police have arrested more than 20 people after a group of conscripts’ wives gathered near the Kremlin. This entity, called Camino a Casa, asks for the return of its relatives from the front, where many have been for more than a year. Journalists and human rights activists were arrested at the end of the demonstration, as they passed in front of Red Square. All inmates had their phones confiscated.
The civil liberties channel OVD-Info reports 27 detainees. At least one of them participated in the demonstration. Many of those arrested are journalists from outlets such as Sota, Kommersant, Otoroshno Novosti, France Press and the German magazine Spiegel, as well as human rights activists.
The action, scheduled for coincide with the 500th day since the announcement of the mobilization in Russia it was set at noon, Moscow time. The women arrived at the Kremlin walls ten minutes after the changing of the guard, left flowers there in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and immediately gave some interviews. They then crossed the Plaza de la Revolución, but without attempting to enter Red Square, which is next. The first arrests of journalists took place there.
Maria Andreeva, leader of Camino a Casa, condemned the war and stated that «a special military operation is a great tragedy that happened between two brotherly peoples». Later, after crossing the square, he tried to prevent some detainees from being taken away by positioning himself in front of the police van. He told the police that inside there was a relative of someone recruited to go to the front: «He didn’t do anything wrong, review the documents and let him go». But moments later the officers pushed her and the van drove away. “Practically all the male journalists have been arrested,” the Sota channel warned as they were taken to the police station: his correspondent was saved because he was not wearing an identification vest.
PROVOCATORS AND INCENTIVE AGENTS
Previously, the NEXTA Live Telegram channel had reported that the provocateurs were recruited from groups of students, who promised to pay 2,000 rubles (20 euros at current exchange rates) for participation. during the protest a man compares himself to women to tell them that Ukraine was entirely responsible for what was happening. Several plainclothes officers wearing balaclavas recorded journalists as they carried out their work.
Camino a Casa organizes similar events every Saturday (this event is the ninth in a row). On a fairly sunny morning, around 200 people On this occasion they attended a meeting which took place calmly and without shouting slogans. The day before, he had the support of opposition politician Maxim Kats and Alexei Navalny’s team.
The Road Home movement demands that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, sign a decree ending the mobilization, signed in October 2022 and which has not been cancelled. A participant in the protest against the mobilization was stopped near the monument to the Unknown Soldier, where the wives of those mobilized had left roses scrupulously respecting the shifts and protocols established by the police. As the arrested man himself explained to OVD-Info, when asked why he was detained, the police replied: «We will find out at the police station.»
The police announced it at the police station the journalists will soon be released, except for those working for media classified as foreign agents. Shortly afterwards, in the central Pokrovka Street, the police arrested seven journalists who were covering a demonstration against the mobilization.
