Man ‘hurls a burning Molotov cocktail at the Kremlin walls’ amid reports Russia has now rounded up 15,000 anti-war protesters
- Video shows the man gesticulating angrily at the walls of the Kremlin as he looks up at a burning section of the brickwork
- The footage appears to show the moment just after the man threw petrol bomb
- It comes after more than 15,000 people have been detained for demonstrating against Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine
This is the shocking moment a furious man appears to throw a burning Molotov cocktail at the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow.
Video shows the man, who has not been identified, gesticulating angrily at the red walls of the Kremlin as he looks up at a burning section of the brickwork.
The footage, which was filmed by a passing motorist, purportedly shows the moment just after the man threw the petrol bomb at the building.
He appears enraged as he shouts and swears at the walls of the Kremlin, a section of which is burning where the Molotov cocktail appears to have hit it.
It comes after more than 15,000 people have been detained for demonstrating against Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, according to independent human rights body OVD-Info.
This is the shocking moment a furious man appears to throw a burning Molotov cocktail at the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow
Video shows the man, who has not been identified, gesticulating angrily at the red walls of the Kremlin as he looks up at a burning section of the brickwork
Despite the constant threat of arrest in Russia, thousands of Russians across the country have protested against Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Last week, 467 people were detained in Moscow for protesting against the invasion as Moscow clamps down on antiwar demonstrations.
An journalist with AFP, who was present at a protest in the capital Moscow on Sunday, witnessed at least a dozen arrests.
They added that police were taking away anybody without press papers.
Videos show officers using truncheons and stun guns in a brutal bid to stamp out any opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
Police officers in central Moscow were seen manhandling many people who took part in the protests against Russian military action, in Manezhnaya Square.
Police officers detain a man during a protest against Russian military action in Ukraine, in Manezhnaya Square in central Moscow on March 13
Demonstrations have been taking place in many locations across Russia to protest against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Meanwhile, on March 14, Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova defied Putin’s crackdown on free speech to denounce his war on Ukraine on live TV.
Putin has strong-armed state channels into referring to a ‘special military operation’ instead of a ‘war’ or ‘invasion’, has denied suffering mass casualties, and sought to paint Ukraine as the aggressor with 15 years in jail for anyone who defies him.
But Ovsyannikova decided to flout the law, storming on to the set of state-controlled Channel One waving an anti-war sign.
A highly regarded employee of the channel, the mother-of-two held a placard reading ‘Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They’re lying to you’.
She then released a pre-recorded video statement calling on ordinary Russians to protest and ‘stop the madness’.
Miss Ovsyannikova’s exceptional act of defiance against Putin quickly went viral, winning praise from world leaders and sparking calls for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
But once she was arrested, there were fears she would disappear, as many critics of the Kremlin do.
Marina Ovsyannikova, the editor at the state broadcaster Channel One who protested against Russian military action in Ukraine during the evening news broadcast at the station late Monday, leaves the Ostankinsky District Court after being fined for 30,000 rubles
Her lawyer said he could not make contact with the journalist or find her at the notorious police station she was said to be held in, raising concerns for her safety.
Then last week Miss Ovsyannikova suddenly appeared at Moscow’s Ostankino district court, where a judge ordered her to pay a £210 fine (30,000 rubles) and released her.
She could have faced a maximum punishment of 10 days in detention for calling for illegal protests.
However, the charge was based only on the video – not her interruption of the news broadcast.
So it is feared that her ordeal is far from over as Kremlin cronies last week called for her to be locked up for several years.
With the invasion of Ukraine, the crackdown on dissent has been expanded to media outlets and social media networks – all but silencing most independent news sites.
On Monday, a Moscow court banned Facebook and Instagram for what it deemed extremist activity in a case against their parent company, Meta.
The Tverskoy District Court fulfilled a request from prosecutors to outlaw Meta Platforms Inc. and banned Facebook and Instagram for what they called ‘extremist activities.’
Russian prosecutors have accused the social media platforms of ignoring government requests to remove what they described as fake news about Russian military actions in Ukraine and calls for anti-war protests in Russia.
Police officers detain a man during a protest against Russian military action in Ukraine, in Manezhnaya Square in central Moscow on March 13
The court’s ruling bans Meta from opening offices and doing business in Russia. Meta declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.
Prosecutors haven’t requested to ban the Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp, which is widely popular in Russia. The authorities also emphasized that they do not intend to punish individual Russians who use Facebook or Instagram.
Instagram and Facebook were already blocked in Russia after the country’s communications and media regulator Roskomnadzor said they were being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers.
In addition to blocking Facebook and Instagram, Russian authorities also have shut access to foreign media websites, including BBC, the U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and Latvia-based website Meduza.
Continuing the effort, Roskomnadzor on Monday blocked the website of Euronews, a European news network. The regulator has also cut Euronews broadcasts.
The court’s verdict comes amid multipronged efforts by Russian authorities to control the message about Russia’s military action in Ukraine, which the Kremlin describes as a ‘special military operation’ intended to uproot alleged ‘neo-Nazi nationalists.’
A new law fast-tracked on March 4 by the Kremlin-controlled parliament, a week after Russia launched the attack on Ukraine, envisions prison terms of up to 15 years for posting ‘fake’ information about the military that differs from the official narrative.
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