Russian security forces detained more than 3,200 people protesting in the country’s 11 time zones on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. Most protesters chanted slogans against President Vladimir Putin and demanded the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been imprisoned since returning to Russia after being treated for near-fatal poisoning in Germany on January 17. Navalny, 44, blamed the Kremlin. for his assassination attempt by putting a nerve agent in his underwear.
The Biden administration has criticized the crackdown on protesters and the imprisonment of Navalny. “The US condemns the persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists by Russian authorities for the second week in a row,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a tweet. Russia’s foreign ministry called Blinken’s tweet a “cruel interference in Russia’s internal affairs” and accused Washington of trying to destabilize the situation.
Read it at Associated Press