Russian law enforcement agencies detained 3,296 protesters during mass rallies in Russia on January 23.
Such data as of the morning of January 24 was posted by the OVD-Info website, which monitors political persecution cases.
Most of the detainees were in Moscow (1,294), St. Petersburg (489) and Novosibirsk (96).
Mass detentions took place in many large cities of Russia.
According to the online portal Meduza, the total number of the detainees is a record one in the entire history of protests in modern Russian history. Prior to this, a record number of people (1,769) in total throughout the country was detained on June 12, 2017.
Most of the detainees have been charged with administrative offences for the violation of the rules of participation in rallies and for "interfering with the city's infrastructure."
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Protests in Russia
- On Saturday, January 23, rallies were held in Russia in support of the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who was arrested a few days earlier, upon return to Russia from Germany.
- Russian law enforcement agencies violently handled detentions during the mass protests.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemned the violence against participants in the rallies in support of Navalny in Russia.
