Egotistical Putin Has Hundreds Arrested for Protesting Invasion
The mainstream media has long had trouble calling Vladimir Putin a dictator to his face. They’ve glanced around it, often reminding their audiences about the Russian leader’s decades of reign, or referring to him is simply “Russian leader” in a bid to avoid hefting any legitimacy unto his title.
In the wake of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, however, it is getting very difficult to find a way to characterize Putin as anything but a tyrant. Not only has he simply decreed that sections of Ukraine are now “breakaway states”, but the Kremlin is demanding that Kyiv surrender.
And, as this wasn’t enough to move the semantic needle, Putin is also employing harsh policing methods at home to keep protesters from bruising his delicate ego.
Reuters reported as of early evening that some 549 people had been arrested in 39 cities across Russia for protesting the invasion, according to the OVD-Info protest monitor.
Russia under President Vladimir Putin has been known for detaining anti-government protesters in large numbers. CNN reported live from Moscow on Thursday as some of those arrests were happening.
“There isn’t so much of a central protest here. These are some leaders here in this central area of Moscow,” CNN’s Nick Robertson reported live in Moscow. “While we’ve been here for the last 45 minutes another person is being dragged out of the subway there, being dragged by the police, being arrested, pressed up against the vehicle. We’ve seen dozens of people being arrested here over the last 45 minutes.”
Russia’s heavy handedness was quite evident.
“The government says they’ve not authorized protests,” Robertson added. “They have warned people not to attend them. They say people can get arrested, that there will be legal repercussions, and the government even says if you GE a criminal record for criminal activity at one of these events, then that can affect you for the rest of your life.”
The international community has been steadily and consistently condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but with little effect. Russia appears completely unfazed by the trouble.
