Britain has invited Russian diplomats for an interview after the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
More than 110 people have been detained in Russia, who participated in the opposition leader To Alexei Navalny to the commemorative events, says the Russian human rights group OVD-info. Navalnyi died in prison on Friday at the age of 47.
People have been detained in at least 13 cities, including St. Petersburg, Moscow and Krasnodar, OVD-info explains on its website. The group has received the most arrests in St. Petersburg.
The police have not announced the arrests, but the prosecutors have warned against participating in mass demonstrations. A video published on the messaging service X showed how flowers and Navalny’s pictures were removed from the street.
According to OVD, the protests have been spontaneously organized demonstrations due to Navalny’s death. Other media sites have also reported on the arrests.
The Latvian Meduza website tells youi, that in Nižni Novgorod protesters gathered in front of the local ministry to remember Navalny. Russian reporter Irina Slavina committed self-immolation in the same place in 2020. The journalist’s work was reported by, among others, the British broadcasting company BBC.
Britain invited Russian diplomats to the meeting
The British administration said late on Friday that it has invited the Russian diplomats in the country for an interview after Navalny’s death. According to Britain, it must be made clear that the Russian authorities are to blame for Navalny’s death.
Earlier on Friday, the British Foreign Secretary, former Prime Minister David Cameron said that President Vladimir Putin should be held responsible for what happened. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that no one should doubt “the brutality of the Russian system†. The ministry continued in its statement that Navalnyi spent his entire life exposing Russian corruption and making free politics.
Several dozen people gathered in London in front of the Russian embassy with signs in English and Russian. They said, among other things, that “Putin needs to stop” and “We are Navalnyi”.
UN Russia rapporteur: The human rights situation has deteriorated
Navalny’s death was only the tip of the iceberg, said the UN expert reporting on the human rights situation in Russia Mariana Katzarova on Friday.
Katzarova said in an interview with AFP that on some level the death was expected and on the other hand it was a huge shock. Katzarova, like several others, called for an open and independent investigation into the causes of death, separate from the Russian government.
He said that the human rights situation in Russia has deteriorated over the past 20 years, but after Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine, the situation has changed extensively. In the interview, he called the situation oppression of human rights.
Katzarova is the UN’s first expert focused on the human rights situation in Russia. He started working in May of last year. The job involves observing the human rights situation in Russia and reporting on it to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly.
– We mourn Navalny’s death, but at the same time we demand the release of hundreds of political prisoners in Russia – human rights activists, journalists, lawyers – because I can’t help but think about who will be next, Katzarova said in an interview.
Reuters, AFP, STT
Updated 17.2. at 10:27 the number of detainees, the number of cities.