On Sunday, January 31, protesters across Russia took to the streets for the second weekend in a row to oppose the detention of opposition figure Alexey Navalny. The police response, which was harsh on January 23, was even more severe than last time — as evidenced by numerous testimonies (and videos) of officers using tasers against demonstrators. In total, more than 5,000 people were arrested countrywide, shattering last weekend’s record for the most detentions Russia has ever seen in a single day. Here’s a look at the events of January 31, in photos.
Moscow
Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Maxim Shemetov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Sergey Savostyanov / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Maxim Shemetov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Yury Belyat / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Dmitry Serebryakov / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Andrey Lyubimov / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Gleb Shchelkunov / Kommersant
Vasily Maximov / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Maxim Shemetov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Maxim Shemetov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Valery Sharifulin / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
St. Petersburg
Valentin Yegorshin / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Dmitry Lovetsky / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Olga Maltseva / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Sergey Konkov
Valentin Yegorshin / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Pyotr Kovalev / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Pyotr Kovalev / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Dmitry Lovetsky / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Nizhny Novgorod
Andrey Repin / Kommersant
Andrey Repin / Kommersant
Yekaterinburg
Donat Sorokin / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Donat Sorokin / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Donat Sorokin / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Krasnodar
Vladimir Sokolov
Volgograd
Artem Krasnov / Kommersant
Artem Krasnov / Kommersant
Tomsk
Diana Barashkova
Diana Barashkova
Diana Barashkova
Omsk
Evgeny Sofiychuk / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
AP / Scanpix / LETA
Evgeny Sofiychuk / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Alexey Malgavko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Kemerovo
Maxim Kiselev / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Maxim Kiselev / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Perm
Ekaterina Voronova
Ekaterina Voronova
Kazan
Yegor Aleyev / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Alexey Nasyrov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Novosibirsk
Kirill Kukhmar / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Vlad Nekrasov / Kommersant
Kirill Kukhmar / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Kirill Kukhmar / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Kirill Kukhmar / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Yakutsk
Vadim Skryabin / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Ivan Barkov / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
TS0F58C5.jpg
Khabarovsk
Igor Volkov / Kommersant
Krasnoyarsk
Andrey Samsonov / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Andrey Samsonov / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Andrey Samsonov / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Vladivostok
Yury Smityuk / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Alexander Khitrov / AP / Scanpix / LETA
Yury Smityuk / TASS / Scanpix / LETA
Navalny’s detention
Alexey Navalny was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on January 17, 2021. The next day, he was remanded in custody for 30 days during an extraordinary hearing inside a Khimki police station. Navalny was then sent to Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina prison. Russia’s prison authorities requested Navalny be detained for allegedly violating his probation in the Yves Rocher case while abroad. The authorities are now seeking to have Navalny’s probation sentence revoked and incarcerate him under a reinstated 3.5-year prison sentence. The case is set to go to court on Tuesday, February 2.