Russia detains another nearly 200 people amid anti-Kremlin crackdown

Nearly 200 people were arrested in Moscow on Saturday during a forum as the ongoing clash between the government and an emboldened opposition movement shows no signs of letting up.

OVD-Info, a monitoring group that tracks the arrests of protesters and activists, put out a list Saturday of more than 180 people who it said were detained in Russia’s capital city in the latest wave of demonstrations. The arrests were made at a meeting of independent and opposition politicians.

Opposition politician Ilya Yashin posted a video on Twitter of police storming the meeting, saying the Kremlin viewed the confab as a sign of “strength” by its opponents.

Вот видео моего задержания: прямо во время общения с журналистами. Зачем вообще разогнали форум независимых депутатов? Власти очевидно кажется, что она демонстрирует силу. В реальности же вся эта ментовская беготня выглядит просто жалко и нелепо. pic.twitter.com/hfosjV3Uvv

— Илья Яшин (@IlyaYashin) March 13, 2021

Vladimir Kara-Murza, another top figure in the opposition movement, shared a picture of him being taken away in a police van.

С депутатом Резником обычно встречаемся в Мариинском дворце. Сегодня вот встретились в московском автозаке. pic.twitter.com/B54OPzc65c

— Vladimir Kara-Murza (@vkaramurza) March 13, 2021

Russian police said they pushed to stop the meeting because it violated COVID-19 restrictions and some participants were not wearing masks, The Associated Press reported.

The arrests were just the latest in a wave of detentions as a bolstered opposition movement rails against the Kremlin following the arrest of Alexei Navalny, a leader in the movement against Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Navalny was arrested in January after he returned to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from being poisoned in August. The Kremlin is suspected of being behind the poisoning.

He was sentenced in February to 2.5 years in prison for violating parole while recovering from an assassination attempt.