Anti-War Protests Break Out In Russian Cities As Many Shocked At Scale Of Ukraine Invasion

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

As Russian missiles rained down on Ukraine, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in cities across Russia to protest their government’s offensive on Thursday, and many were detained by police.

According to the Russian rights monitoring group OVD-Info, at least 1,758 people were detained at antiwar protests in 55 Russian cities. Of that number, 967 were arrested in Moscow, and 431 were detained in Saint Petersburg.

Look at the size of anti-war protestors in St Petersburg, Russia. Wow pic.twitter.com/dHg9Uwt9RQ

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) February 24, 2022

In Moscow, protesters gathered at Pushkinskaya Square, in the center of the city. Demonstrators carried signs with antiwar slogans that read: “Stop the war”, “Ukraine is not our enemy,”, “No one needs this war.”

According to RT, the Moscow police said they “temporarily detained” 600 people. OVD-Info published a list on its website of the names of the people that have been arrested in each city.

You will find more infographics at Statista

And according to Fox News, individuals in some prominent political families have spoken out, as the large-scale scope of the war has become unpopular among some segments of society: 

Even the daughter of oligarch and Chelsea F.C. owner Roman Abramovich has spoken out, posting on Instagram that “The biggest and most successful lie of Kremlin’s propaganda is that most Russians stand with Putin.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s daughter also posted “No to war” on Instagram.

Москва.Людям всё же удалось собраться у метро Пушкинская в Москве. pic.twitter.com/4bZc6Eu1Fb

— Встречный Ветер (@headwind512) February 24, 2022

Some prominent Russians have spoken out against President Vladimir Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine, including journalists and other public figures. Yelena Kovalskaya, the director of a state-funded theater in Moscow, quit her job and wrote on Facebook that it’s “impossible to work for a killer and get paid by him.”