50 000 in anti-war demo

It was the biggest mobilisation for a long period – the last year, at least. The demo was organized by the liberal opposition such Alexei Navalny’s Progress Party. A lot of young and middle-aged people with Ukranian and Russian flags and peace posters marched through the Moscow boulevards for 3 hours. At the end in the rally there was a speaker from Ukrainian Maidan, who came to Moscow specially, Nadya Tolokonnikova from Pussy Riot and some of the prominent musicians and journalists.

There was a visible sector of the far left on the demo – Russian Socialist Movement, the CWI group, anarchists, LGBT contingent and some others.

At the same time there were two demonstrations "for a Russian Crimea", organized by some far-right and Orthodox fundamentalist groups. The total number of participants – around 5000.

There were also some anti-war actions in St.Peterburg, Ekaterinburg (with the mayor of the city, who supported it and spoke there), Nizny Novgorod and some other cities.

It all shows the clear opposition from some politically active parts of the Russian society to Putin’s policy in Ukraine.

Moscow

15 March 2014