More than 340 people have been detained at spontaneous protests across Russia in memory of dissident Alexei Navalny, a day after authorities announced his death in prison, where he was serving a sentence nearing 30 years for extremism and fraud. In total, the number of detainees surpasses 340 since the news of Navalny’s death first broke.
“Over 340 people have now been detained at impromptu gatherings honoring Alexei Navalny, with 230 arrests recorded today alone”, reported the NGO OVD-Info, which tracks detentions via its Telegram channel. The group has been closely monitoring events and providing updates on the ground.
“We are doing everything possible to assist those detained. Advocates working with OVD-Info are active in several regions”, the organization added, underscoring the legal support effort underway amid the arrests.
Demonstrations unfolded in a wide range of cities, from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Tomsk, Tula, Belgorod, Kursk, Novocherkassk, and Krasnoyarsk, extending to Ufa, Kirov, Velikiy Novgorod, and other locales. The scale of the mobilization indicated a broad resonance across many parts of the country, despite a visible presence of security forces attempting to disperse crowds.
In St. Petersburg, security forces dispersed dozens of people who gathered at Solovetsky Stone, a memorial erected in memory of political repression victims at Voskresenskaya. Among the detainees in that locality were two reporters, a photographer for Novaya Gazeta and a journalist for RusNews, as later confirmed by independent reports. The events highlighted the risk faced by media personnel covering the protests.
Around the same time, roughly 50 detentions occurred near the Solovetsky Stone in Moscow, at Lubianka Square opposite the KGB headquarters. Residents laid flowers at the memorial while reporting on the arrests. According to The Moscow Times, a RusNews reporter was arrested in the area, reinforcing the sense of crackdown on public dissent in the capital. OVD-Info noted that severe arrests were taking place in Moscow as the day progressed.
Video footage from outlets such as Sota and RusNews captured protesters holding signs with messages like “Murderer” and chanting “Shame!” as detentions grew near a makeshift Wall of Lamentations created to honor Navalny. The visual record underscored the emotional intensity of the demonstrations and the public rebuke directed at authorities for Navalny’s fate.
OVD-Info also reported that a religious figure, the bishop of the Orthodox Apostolic Church Grigori Mijnov-Vaitenko, who was planning to lead a funeral service for Navalny, was taken in for questioning at the interior ministry in Saint Petersburg’s Petrograd district. The move appeared to illustrate the mounting friction between religious leaders and state authorities amid the national outcry.
Additionally, there were confirmed demonstrations outside Russia, with crowds exceeding a thousand in several international cities. Protests occurred in Yerevan, Armenia; Tbilisi and Batumi in Georgia; Istanbul in Turkey; and the capitals of Serbia, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, and Latvia, among others. The international response reflected global attention to Navalny’s death and the manner in which dissent is managed by authorities elsewhere as well as within Russia.
As the day unfolded, journalists and witnesses documented the scenes of protest and arrest. The coverage showed protesters bearing banners and chanting slogans while authorities moved to disperse gatherings, often with a heavy security presence. Across multiple regions, onlookers observed a pattern of rapid detentions followed by legal proceedings or administrative processing, highlighting ongoing human rights concerns and the role of civil society in responding to Navalny’s death.
Analysts and human rights advocates stressed the importance of transparent investigations into Navalny’s death and full accountability for those responsible. The events prompted renewed calls for independent monitoring of detention practices and fair treatment of detainees, including access to legal counsel and medical care when needed. Observers warned that the reinforcement of punitive measures against dissent could have chilling effects on public discourse and press freedom in Russia and beyond. (OVD-Info, ongoing; corroborated by multiple independent outlets and observer groups).