RUSSIA: Security operatives arrest opposition leader, activists before Putin’s inauguration

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has for the umpteenth time been arrested by security operatives hours before the inauguration of Vladimir Putin.

Reports say Navalny was arrested and detained alongside more than 1,000 anti-Kremlin activists ahead of Putin’s inauguration for a fourth term as president.

Anti-Kremlin protesters poured into the streets of Moscow after Navalny had called for demonstrations in more than 90 towns and cities across Russia against what he says is Putin’s autocratic, tsar-like rule.

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“We will force the authorities, made up of swindlers and thieves, to take into account the millions of citizens who did not vote for Putin,” Navalny said before he was arrested.

According to reports, Navalny was detained soon after showing up on Moscow’s Pushkin Square, where young people chanted “Russia without Putin!” and “Down with the Tsar!”.

Putin overwhelmingly won re-election in March, extending his grip over Russia for six more years – a tenure of 24 years that would make him Moscow’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

 

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