WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2021) The United States strongly condemns what it calls forceful suppression of protests across Russia in support of detained opposition activist Alexey Navalny and urges Russian authorities to release all detained protesters, the US State Department said on Saturday.
Unauthorized rallies took place in dozens of Russian cities on Saturday. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned against foreign meddling, condemning the US embassy for publishing maps of the protests and saying that US diplomats will be summoned over the incident. The US embassy published locations of the protests and advised US citizens to avoid these locations.
"The United States strongly condemns the use of harsh tactics against protesters and journalists this weekend in cities throughout Russia ... Continued efforts to suppress Russians' rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, the arrest of opposition figure Aleksey Navalny, and the crackdown on protests that followed are troubling indications of further restrictions on civil society and fundamental freedoms," the statement said.
According to the statement, by suppressing Russians' rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, the Russian authorities are violating the country's constitution, OSCE commitments, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
"We call on Russian authorities to release all those detained for exercising their universal rights and for the immediate and unconditional release of Aleksey Navalny. We urge Russia to fully cooperate with the international community's investigation into the poisoning of Aleksey Navalny and credibly explain the use of a chemical weapon on its soil," the US State Department said.
On Saturday, many Russian cities were hit by mass protests in support of opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who was detained in Moscow this past Sunday upon his arrival from Germany, where he had undergone months of treatment after being allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent. The blogger was subsequently placed in custody for 30 days for violating his probation terms for an earlier embezzlement conviction.
Dozens of people, both protesters and law enforcement officers, were injured during the demonstrations in Moscow. The police have also detained dozens of protesters.
