posted April 23, 2021 12:57 AM            

quote:

---

Police rounded up more than 1,700 protesters on Wednesday as Russians in dozens of cities took part in rallies organised by allies of hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny over his failing health in jail.

His spokeswoman was jailed for 10 days, and another close ally detained, on the same day that President Vladimir Putin delivered a state-of-the-nation speech warning the West not to cross Russia’s “red lines” and pointedly made no mention of Navalny.

"This is one of the last gasps of a free Russia, as many are saying. We came out for Alexei ... against a war in Ukraine and the wild propaganda," said Marina, a student at the Moscow protest.

OVD-Info, a group that monitors protests and detentions, said 1,782 people had been arrested, including 804 in St. Petersburg and 119 in the Urals city of Ufa.

---