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Riot Police Rush at Anti-Putin Protesters in Vladivostok

Heated clashes took place in Vladivostok between riot police and protesters on January 23, as demonstrations took place across Russia in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was detained on January 17 after flying into Moscow from Berlin.

Navalny had been in Berlin recovering after his alleged poisoning in August 2020.

Footage from Vladivostok shows riot police rushing toward protesters with raised batons, clashing with them, and dragging at least one person away. Protesters are heard chanting “Putin’s a thief.”

“I’m 26. I’ve lived under Putin almost all my life. I keep hearing the same old promises every year. But what have I got? A war in Ukraine and Georgia, a tax hike, new taxes, [a raised] retirement age. That’s why I am here today,” one protester told a reporter for Current Time, a Russian-language news channel funded by grants from the United States.

Navalny’s campaign announced via Telegram that protests would take place in cities across Russia on January 23. Credit: Current Time via Storyful