The Yabloko party has filed a notice with the Moscow Mayor’s Office that an anti-war march of 30,000 people will be held on March 12. The activists plan to walk from Strastnoy Boulevard to the intersection of Akademika Sakharov Avenue with the Garden Ring. On the same day, nationalist organizations are planning to hold a “March in Support of the Russian Army”. They want to involve 25,000 supporters in the action and lead them from the State Duma to Triumphalnaya Square. Both processions are scheduled for the same time – from two to seven in the evening. Experts consider it most likely that the mayor’s office will refuse everyone.
Photo: Oleg Kharseev, Kommersant
Photo: Oleg Kharseev, Kommersant
Ideological opponents also filed applications for marches on the same day – March 1. From Yabloko, the organizers were party chairman Nikolai Rybakov, head of the faction in the Moscow City Duma Maxim Kruglov, head of the Moscow district Yakimanka Andrey Morev and member of the regional council of the Moscow Yabloko Marina Karavaeva. Politicians propose to hold a procession from Strastnoy Boulevard to the intersection of Sakharov Avenue with the Garden Ring and attract about 30,000 residents to participate. The press service of the party noted that the rally was anti-war, but in the notification the topic was indicated extremely correctly: “an expression of the attitude of Muscovites to a special military operation.” “Our main slogan is “No to war”. We collect signatures under it, and we do all the merch with it. Our demands are an immediate cessation of hostilities and the start of emergency peace talks through international mediation,” said party spokesman Igor Yakovlev. It is assumed that the procession will take place on Saturday, March 12, from two to seven in the evening, but the party is ready to consider alternative times and venues. Yabloko noted that they are ready to support only an agreed rally in order to guarantee the safety of the participants. It should be noted that earlier Yabloko applied for anti-war actions in the regions, but the picket was held only in Chelyabinsk.
On the same day and at the same time, a group of Russian nationalists and patriotic organizations planned to hold a “March in Support of the Russian Army”. The activists planned the rally in advance by conducting a preliminary survey in social networks, on the basis of which the number of participants (25 thousand people), slogans and posters were announced. Their route starts in the very center of Moscow, near the State Duma. From there they plan to walk to Triumfalnaya Square. “Civil society must keep their country and army at war, and we are at war now – there is not much difference between a war and a military operation. People on the front line should feel the rear, they should know that they are loved and expected,” one of the applicants, blogger Artemy Sych, explained to Kommersant. “Therefore, our main slogan will be “the people with the army.” Some elements of civil society are trying to prevent this and declare a clear defeatist attitude. It shouldn’t be like that.” Among the organizers of the procession are two more journalists and bloggers – Svyatoslav Pavlov and Yegor Kholmogorov. The protesters are going to take with them the flags of Russia, the DPR, the LPR, the banner of Victory and Orthodox banners. On Wednesday, a similar application can be filed in St. Petersburg, and in other regions, activists will call on people to hold actions that do not require approval, said Mr. Sych. As for the march in the capital, the activists agree to adjust the date and place, if the mayor’s office offers an alternative, they do not consider the option of an unauthorized rally.
Oppositionists Mikhail Shneider and Aleksey Minyailo had previously planned to agree on an “anti-war march” in Moscow with the participation of up to 150,000 people on March 5; representatives of PARNAS, the Solidarity and Decommunization movements were also listed among the applicants. They were refused due to the “epidemiological situation” and anti-covid restrictions. The organizers nevertheless hope to submit a new application for 13 or 19 March. Now, the new recommendations of Rospotrebnadzor will be an additional argument in favor of coordination, the opposition believes, on March 1, the agency updated the list of recommendations “relevant during the period of the spread of the omicron strain: it is only recommended to maintain a mask regime in enclosed spaces, an enhanced disinfection regime.” However, nothing is said about public events in the open air.
The youth movement “Spring” announced a new protest action for the first weekend of March. On February 27, Vesna already called on supporters to take to the streets in the capital; most of the detentions of Muscovites with flowers and anti-war symbols that day took place at the points indicated in the announcements of Vesna. The OVD-Info project (included in the register of foreign agents) reports on “daily anti-war protests in Russia” from February 24 to the present. The number of participants is not reported, but, according to the project, during this time about 6.4 thousand people were detained in 57 cities, of which 3,158 were in Moscow and 2,098 in St. Petersburg. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation does not publish statistics on detentions, the Moscow Department of Internal Affairs reported only 600 detainees on February 24.
Rallies in support of the operation of the Russian armed forces on March 10 announced the regional branches of the Liberal Democratic Party in Vladimir and Kursk, however, in both cases, the authorities refused the applicants, citing epidemiological restrictions. Party spokesman Alexander Dupin, when asked by Kommersant about other similar rallies in the regions and the capital, replied that the Liberal Democratic Party “is considering various options for holding such actions” and will “notify the press” about each of them.
The Department of Regional Security of the Moscow City Hall at the time of delivery of the text did not respond to a request from Kommersant about the prospects for agreeing shares. Experts interviewed by Kommersant believe that the capital’s mayor’s office is likely to refuse both applications. “For the authorities, it would be an ideal situation in which two and a half cripples would come to a liberal rally, and 10 thousand people to a rally in support of the military,” says political scientist Pavel Salin. “But monitoring can show that such a number of participants in the second there will be no rally, including taking into account the fact that people can express passive support for the operation, but will not want to go out into the street. Ensuring turnout with the help of administrative resources can mean costs, therefore, in order not to get into an unpleasant situation, the authorities can refuse both.” Political scientist Oleksiy Makarkin believes that the authorities would not want to join forces with the nationalists, including because “they can shout their slogans that are not related to Ukraine.” However, he notes that before March 12, circumstances may change significantly, the expert added.
