Russian police detain journalists at rally organized by wives of draftees calling for end of mobilization

Russian police officers detained journalists covering a protest organized by representatives of The Way Home (“Put Domoi”), a group of Russian women advocating for their mobilized husbands to be sent home from the war in Ukraine, report Telegram channels Sota and Sotavision. The protest took place near the Kremlin walls in Moscow.

The outlets posted clips showing several police officers leading journalists wearing “press” vests into a police van. “Nearly all male journalists were detained,” reported Sota.

According to Telegram channel Sirena, police were detaining all those who were filming protestors laying flowers at the Eternal Flame. Another Telegram channel, Ostorozhno, Novosti, reported that there were over 25 people in the police van, most of whom were journalists. The channel said that journalists from Ostorzhno, Novosti, Sota.Vision, Kommersant, France Press, Spiegel, as well as activists from the “For Human Rights” movement, were detained.

Maria Andreeva, a member of The Way Home, tried to stop those detained from being taken away by standing in front of the police van. She said that one of the people inside the van was a relative of a draftee: “He’s one of ours, he didn’t violate anything, check his documents, and let him go.” She was then pushed back and the police van drove away.

Human rights advocacy group OVD-Info reported that 27 people were detained, including at least one protestor. They were taken to Moscow’s Kitay Gorod police station. According to human rights activists, the police detained another seven journalists covering the protest at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s campaign headquarters. They were taken to the Basmanny police precinct. Among the detained was Andrey Zaykov, a representative for the Japanese television company Fuji.

The detained journalists soon began to be released from the Kitay Gorod police station.