MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. More than 3,500 people have been detained in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities for taking part in unauthorized rallies, Russian Interior Ministry Spokeswoman Irina Volk told TASS on Sunday.
"Russian interior ministry units and other law enforcement agencies ensured law and order in place where unauthorized public events were held in a number of Russian regions. Around 2,500 people took part in an unauthorized rally in Moscow. Some 1,700 of them were detained. About 1,500 people took part in such a rally in St. Petersburg, with 750 of them being detained. A total of 1,200 people took part in unauthorized rallies in other regions. As many as 1,061 people were detained," she said.
Calls for rallies against Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in Russian cities on March 6 were disseminated in the internet earlier. Russia’s interior ministry warned that attempt at organizing unauthorized rallies would be thwarted and their organizes and participants would be brought to responsibility.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years".