Anti-war protests have been going on in Russia for eight days now. According to Russian independent media, the authorities are stepping up repression against those who oppose the war with Ukraine.
According to the portal OWD-info, over the past day in Russia, the police detained 724 people who took to the streets with posters “NO to war”. Protests took place in 33 cities. Around 8,000 people have been detained across the country since the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
The persecution of independent media continues. The authorities block the websites of newspapers, radio stations and TV channels that publish information that is not official Kremlin propaganda. Most of Russian society is cut off from alternative sources of information.
Anti-war appeals against Russian government repression
Some Russian media join the call to end the war with Ukraine. The Russian publishing group VK-Media, operating in the Urals, printed newspapers with an anti-war appeal. On the cover is the slogan “Stop this madness”, and next to it is the QR code of the anti-war petition, which has already been signed by more than 1.1 million Russians.
The Russian publishing group WK-media, despite the upcoming repressions, has printed and is trying to distribute newspapers calling for an immediate end to the war with Ukraine and calling Russian aggression “madness”. The anti-war message of the media group appeared, among other things, in issues of local newspapers: Vecherniy Krasnotursk, Pro Severouralsk, Vecherniy Karpinsk and Globus.
According to Novaya Gazeta, the police broke into the headquarters of the VK media group and confiscated the entire print run. Earlier, by order of the prosecutor’s office, the websites of the radio “Echo of Moscow” and the TV channel “Rain” were blocked.
Eighth day of the war
Thursday is the eighth day in a row of the war between Russia and Ukraine. More than 2,000 civilians were killed in the first seven days of the Russian invasion as a result of shelling of civilian targets, Interfax-Ukraine reported on Wednesday, citing the State Emergency Service. It added that since the beginning of the war, more than 500 people have been evacuated, more than 400 fires caused by shelling have been extinguished. More than 150 lives were saved and more than 410 explosives were defused.