From the Far East to St Petersburg, Zarina Zabrisky documents the unprecedented demonstrations across Russia and talks to protestors about their demands
Mass protests against Putin’s regime rolled over Russia on 23 January, 2021 in support of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 90 cities around Russia after Navalny was arrested and imprisoned on his return to Russia after recovering from an assassination attempt.
Everyone is tired of lawlessness. We, pensioners, have only one solution: either we will save the youth, and then the youth will save Russia, or we will all perish for the sake of restoring truth and decency
Retiree from Cheboksary
Carrying out the plan for a national protest was a challenge. Protests were not sanctioned by the Government. Fifty of Navalny’s aides and allies and his Anti-Corruption Fund team members were arrested several days before the protest and sentenced to 10–15 days in jail so they could not coordinate the events. At the request of the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office, some social media networks blocked and removed calls-to-action and information about the protests.
With temperatures ranging between -4F and -58F and 20,000 new cases of COVID-19 daily, protestors faced extreme weather, the risk of contracting the virus, arrests, and police brutality. Nevertheless, from East to West, a wave of demonstrations hit the streets and rolled across the country, tsunami-like. According to the BBC, 122 cities participated in the protest.
Russia has eleven time zones; the protests started at 2.00 pm in each time zone. A day of unprecedented mass protests started in the Russian Far East.
Sub Zero Protests in the Far East
In Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, fur- and fleece-clad people set the tone to the country, by marching past ice-sculptures and snow-covered monuments to Lenin, chanting “Off with the Tsar!” “Putin, resign!”, “We are the power here!”, “Go away!”, and “Putin is a thief!”
The last slogan was a reference to the exposé of Putin’s secret Versailles-like palace in a YouTube video released by Navalny’s team after his arrest. The luxury palace, estimated to cost $1.4 billion, officially owned by Putin’s relatives and childhood friends, is located in Gelendzhik, an economically challenged town by the Black Sea, where local residents suffer from daily hot water shortages and malfunctioning sewage.
The video, alleging extreme corruption, had received 70 million views by Saturday and propelled people all over Russia to take to the streets. A toilet brush became one of the popular props: journalists reported that Putin’s palace was equipped with $2,000 toilet brushes. Protestors marched downtown Magadan, an iconic Gulag city, and in Yakutsk, dozens clashed with police – breaking the police lines in -58F amidst the snow blizzard.
Most of the protests passed off peacefully: demonstrators danced khorovod, a Russian folk round dance, sang songs and, in Ulan-Ude, people broke into a Buryat folk dance yohor.