Russia detains foreign journalists at protest by soldiers’ wives in Moscow

At least 20 journalists from foreign press organisations were detained in central Moscow for hours on Saturday as Russian authorities cracked down at demonstrations outside President Vladimir Putin’s election headquarters where Russian soldiers’ wives demanded that they be returned home from the war in Ukraine, media outlets reported.

Wives of Russian soldiers mobilized for fighting in Ukraine talk to each other after laying flowers at the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb at the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia. (AP/File)

Women have increasingly been demanding that their husbands and sons be asked to return home from fighting in the Ukraine war.

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The journalists, including one from Reuters, were filming the protests where women were seen laying red carnations over the tomb of an unknown soldier. Russian police asked about 20 male journalists, several wearing press vests, to board a bus and took them to the Kitay-Gorod station. Some journalists were also taken to the Basmanny station, CNN reported.

However, they were released after a few hours without any charges against them, Reuters reported.

Videos showed journalists being detained near the Red Square in Moscow.

A Reuters spokesperson said in a statement, “A Reuters journalist was detained while covering a story in Moscow, Russia today and released after several hours. Journalists should be free to report the news without fear of harassment or harm, wherever they are. We are committed to covering world events in an independent, unbiased, and reliable way, in keeping with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.”

The “500 days of mobilisation” rally, held on Saturday, first began with women gathering near the walls of the Kremlin before moving to Putin’s election headquarters.

Independent Russian news outlet SOTAvision reported on their Telegram channel that one of their reporters saw security forces “snatching random people from the crowd, and only men”.

OVD-info, a group monitoring Russia’s repression told CNN that they dispatched a lawyer, who was denied access.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) said one of its video journalists was also detained and later released.

Another Russian independent news outlet said that some of the detained journalists belonged to Kommersant, Agence France Press and Spiegel. OVD-info said that a total of 27 people were detained. Media outlets said it included journalists and human rights activists.

The Moscow prosecutor’s office declared that the rally on Saturday had not been coordinated with the authorities, cautioning against organising and participating in unauthorized mass events.