More than 1,300 people were detained at protests against mobilization, some of them reported that they had served subpoenas

President Vladimir Putin’s decision to start a partial mobilization sparked a number of protests. According to OVD-Info (included in the register of foreign agents), 1,312 protesters were detained in 38 cities, including 468 in Moscow. The official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Irina Volk, announced the suppression of “unauthorized actions” in the regions of the Russian Federation, she called the number of their participants “insignificant.”

When the head of state announced a partial mobilization on the morning of September 21, the opposition did not have a clear plan of action. Nevertheless, immediately after Vladimir Putin’s speech, the opposition movement Vesna called on opponents of the mobilization to protest, promising to clarify the gathering places. In a number of cities, dozens of dissatisfied people took to the streets even without Vesna – the first actions were held in Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk. AT Novosibirsk 70 to 100 people came to the central square of the city. Several paddy wagons were driven up to the square, the police warned people about the inadmissibility of holding uncoordinated actions. One person was detained. AT Irkutsk about 60 young people gathered on the square near the stadium without posters, no slogans were shouted out, when the police and riot police appeared, half of the people dispersed, about 20 people were detained. AT Ufa, according to the lawyers, 22 people were detained, and their lawyers were not allowed to see them for some time. AT Voronezh about 40 people gathered on Lenin Square, from whom the police demanded to disperse. About 30 citizens were escorted to the police bus, but some managed to escape. AT Yekaterinburg 40 people were detained during a rally that lasted about two hours on Labor Square (data from OVD-info). AT Chelyabinsk the number of detainees was 27, in Perm — 23. In St. Petersburg 490 people were detained.

Prosecutor’s office Moscow in the afternoon issued a warning “on liability for calls and participation in uncoordinated mass actions” in accordance with administrative and criminal legislation, including under the articles of the Criminal Code on “involving minors in illegal activities” (Article 151), “dissemination of knowingly false information” about army (Art. 207.3) and “mass riots” (Art. 212). In turn, Vesna invited Muscovites dissatisfied with the mobilization to march along the Old Arbat, from the beginning of the Arbat Gate to the Foreign Ministry building. At the same time, some of the protesters preferred Pushkinskaya Square: there, in the metro and on the square itself, several dozens of Russian guardsmen with batons were on duty, buried in the screens of mobile phones in which they corresponded – as a Kommersant correspondent noted, in the same chat with the “black” design theme. From time to time, the fighters were distracted from communication and stopped young people of military age, checking documents and the contents of backpacks. Employees of the Center “E” filmed people’s faces point-blank. Gradually, the documents began to be checked in general for everyone, while it was explained that “there is reason to believe that they were involved in something illegal.” If someone began to resent, the police promised to “remove everything.” They explained to a Kommersant correspondent that they have reason to detain citizens to check documents for up to three hours, if “there is a suspicion that the passport is fake” – “but we want to quickly check and not waste time.”

Initially, there were no noticeable signs of police reinforcement on Stary Arbat. Ten minutes before the start of the action, two paddy wagons were on duty in the alley; several employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were walking along the street, deliberately not paying attention to about 30 people who were standing around in confusion. After the arrest of the first two participants, other people shouted to the officers that “it’s easy to fight girls,” and the police “will be the first to be sent there.” “Go away, calmly we ask you,” the policeman answered. His colleagues tried to seize several men, but the protesters suddenly began to pull their own out of the police grips to the applause of a young man with a single pacifist poster: in a couple of minutes he was in a paddy wagon. By this time, there were already about a hundred people on the Arbat, chanting anti-war slogans. There were many times fewer riot policemen, the slogans became louder, the participants stood in a clutch, holding each other by the elbows. An attempt to detain one of the citizens who were in the clutch was unsuccessful: he managed to free himself and run away, the police wandered in the other direction to the cries of “Shame”. Several dozen people lined up along the walls, but the police blocked this section of the street from two sides. The participants of the action recaptured several more detainees from the police while shouting “We don’t leave our own! Hold it, grab it!” By that time, there were already more than 20 paddy wagons. National guardsmen and riot police lined up near them, waiting for the command. More active detentions began, which also met with opposition, including from girls. The participants who had not yet been detained picked up anti-war slogans, but in the end, those who did not shout anything were also detained. Approximately half an hour after the start of the action, the most active fighters managed to be pushed into paddy wagons. At this time, in the middle of the street, detentions became every minute. The protesters began to be pushed to the beginning of the street, the policeman shouted to those gathered: “We are leaving, we are all leaving, we are dispersing, otherwise you will get five years!” Those who did not have time to disperse were dragged to paddy wagons. By eight o’clock only journalists and casual passers-by remained on the square, but some of the passers-by were still periodically led to the police “loaves” without explanation. Later, some of the detainees reported that the police handed them subpoenas from the military commissariats.

By the evening of September 21, the number of signatures under the Internet petition against mobilization, created back in the spring, had grown from 65,000 to almost 280,000. “escalation of the conflict”. “Citizens have the right to peacefully express their disagreement,” but one should not “succumb to the provocative statements of a number of figures,” Yabloko said.

Meanwhile, the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) announced a rally “We do not abandon our own”, scheduled for September 23 and dedicated, as follows from the press release, the day of the start of “referendums in the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.” ONF appealed to the Moscow government with a request to coordinate the rally on Manezhnaya Square.

Maria Starikova, Anna Vasilyeva, Kira Kheifets, Kommersant correspondent network