Authorities tried to suppress antiwar sentiment and project a strong image of righteousness and strength.
St. Petersburg was the scene of the largest protest. Hundreds of people spontaneously gathered in central St. Petersburg to chant “No to War!” while police in full riot gear took away one protester after another.
The rights group OVD-Info that tracks political arrests tallied 437 detentions across 26 Russian cities, including 226 in Moscow. There were also 130 in St. Petersburg. According to media reports, Moscow police also arrested random passers-by.
On Friday night, the rallies were smaller than those held on Thursday when thousands marched across Russia. According to OVD Info, 1,820 protestors were taken into custody in 58 Russian cities, including 1,002 in Moscow.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, tried to downplay the scale and impact of the protests. He said Friday that President Vladimir Putin “hears all opinions,” but he also knows “the percentage of people who have a different view from him and those who support such an operation.”
Chechnya is Russia’s predominantly Muslim region, and it sent a worrying signal of support to the attack on Ukraine. On Friday, Chechen media reported that Kadyrov had rallied around 12,000 security force operatives in Grozny’s center for an operation readiness check.
According to Chechnya Today’s local news site, Kadyrov stated that they are ready to participate in “any special operation” if necessary and asked Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, to apologize.
Margarita Simonyan (editor-in-chief of Russia’s state-funded TV station RT) posted a Telegram video showing Russian armored cars rolling through a rural area with a man shouting “God Save You, Guys!” Eight years have passed since we’ve been waiting.
Simonyan, who has over 132,000 subscribers to his Telegram blog, stated in the post that there were Ukrainians near Kharkiv greeting Russian soldiers.
Those who opposed the invasion were subject to repercussions.
Yelena Chernenko is a journalist for the Kommersant daily. She claimed she was kicked from the Foreign Ministry pool because of an open letter that condemned the attack on Ukraine, which had been signed by almost 300 journalists. Chernenko stated on Telegram that she was kicked out of the Foreign Ministry pool for her “lackof professionalism” and urged officials to not retaliate against journalists, who had signed the open letter.
Chernenko said that the ban she is now facing was “apparently such are the times.”
Yury Dud was another journalist in trouble. Yury Dud was another journalist in trouble on Thursday. Dud is a vocal Kremlin critic and runs one of Russia’s most popular YouTube channels. He wrote a lengthy social media post condemning the invasion.
The League of Safe Internet, a Kremlin-backed online watchdog, requested that the Justice Ministry and the Prosecutor General consider labeling Dud “foreign agent”. This is a dangerous designation that could lead to additional government scrutiny and negative connotations that could discredit him.
Channel One, a state-owned TV station, said it would be replacing entertainment programs with news shows due to the “current situation”. Ivan Urgant (a comedian) spoke out against the invasion via Instagram.
According to the channel’s spokespersons, Urgant was not responsible for the cancellation of his show.
Roskomnadzor (Russia’s state communications watchdog and internet watchdog) announced that it had placed “partial restrictions on access to Facebook” in response to several Kremlin-backed media being blocked from their accounts. It didn’t specify what its restrictions meant.
The agency stated that it requested Facebook to lift its restrictions on state news agency RIA Novosti and state TV channel Zvezda, as well as pro-Kremlin news sites Gazeta.Ru and Lenta.Ru. However, the platform refused. Roskomnadzor said that Facebook had made several moves to restrict the reach of publications on Facebook, including marking their content as “unreliable” and placing restrictions on search results.
Roskomnadzor stated in an official statement that Russia’s Foreign Ministry, the Prosecutor’s General’s Office on Friday found Facebook “complicit” in violations of fundamental human rights, freedoms, and rights of Russian nationals. It called its move “measures to protect Russian media.”
