Daily anti-war protests have taken place across Russia since military forces invaded Ukraine on 24 February. According to the independent monitor OVD-Info, more than 13,000 people have been detained in 147 cities as of 7 March.

Reacting to the growing discontent, the Russian Duma passed amendments to the Criminal Code on 4 March, stating that the citizens will face fines or 15 years in prison for spreading ‘fake news', calling for sanctions, or who “discredit” Russia's armed forces.

Following the announcement, more than 40 anti-war activists had their homes searched in the cities of Pskov, Saint Petersburg, and Vladimir. According to Russian social media posts following the amendment, police also started to stop people in the streets to check the content of their mobile phones, looking for connections to the protests. Despite the measures, protests have continued.

Police detained approximately 5,000 participants in anti-war protests across the country on 6 March. Russian state-owned news outlet Ria Novosti reported that 1,700 people were detained in Moscow alone, however the anti-war rallies took place in 69 cities, including Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Saint Petersburg, Tomsk, Vladivostok, and Yekaterinburg. The geographic spread of the protests illustrates that anti-war sentiment is not concentrated only in major cities or those close to the borders with Ukraine.

The protests were peaceful, however, according to OVD-Info, at least 30 protesters were beaten by security forces. Videos and audio, shared on Russian channels on Telegram, showed police personnel beating the protesters in the streets and torturing them in the police stations.

According to multiple reports from Russia-based Telegram channels, those detained in Brateevo police station in Moscow on 7 March were hit in the face and head with bottles, kicked in the legs and stomach, dragged by their hair and sprayed with sanitizer in their faces. Two people were hospitalised to the Critical Care Toxicological department after being detained by police in Moscow.

In Saint Petersburg, some of the detained were held for 24 hours in police stations without food or water and deprived of sleep. In some police stations detainees were denied visits from lawyers.

Some of the protesters are already being fined. Fines of RUB30,000–60,000 (USD215-430, with exchange rates as of 7 March) can be higher than a monthly family income in the locations where those fines were given. Fines have been handed to protesters and to whoever authorities find ‘promotes' the ‘anti-war' rhetoric, including posting anything against the ‘special operation' on social media. For example, in Krasnoyarsk a woman was brought to court on 6 March for writing ‘no to war' in the snow.

According to OVD-Info, as of 6 March, there have been 25 people who have had criminal cases opened against them for participating in the activities against the ‘special operation'; they are threatened with jail terms for up to 15 years.

Significance

The majority of those protesting on the streets appear to be younger members of the population, aged in their 20s or 30s, likely reflecting that they have no memory or experience of Soviet-era repression and that they have access to alternative non-state media coverage of the war. It is highly likely that the Russian government will continue the detentions of protesters and look to create a number of ‘exemplary' cases, jailing citizens for promotion of an anti-war narrative. Human rights violations are expected to continue and increase while the government is taking measures to silence the population.