Berlin calls for the immediate release of peaceful participants in the uncoordinated actions that took place in Russia on 23 January. This is how Foreign Minister Heiko Maas commented on the rallies, quoted by Deutsche Welle.
The German minister stressed that the Russian constitution gives every citizen of Russia the right to express his or her opinion and participate in demonstrations. “Therefore, we expect that the peaceful participants in the actions will be immediately released,” he said before the meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU countries in Brussels.
In the afternoon of January 23, uncoordinated actions were held in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia in support of Alexei Navalny, who was arrested on January 18 for repeated violations of the conditions for observing the probationary period in the Yves Rocher case. It was reported that all minors were released from police departments in Moscow.
As a result of the actions, the Moscow investigating authorities opened four criminal cases for the use of violence against a government official. The Investigative Committee reported that on January 23, the participants in the uncoordinated rally behaved aggressively towards two Rosgvardia officers and a police officer, inflicted various bodily injuries on them, sprayed a gas canister in the face of one of the security officials.
In addition, a TASS source reported on the initiation of a criminal case into the smashing of an FSB car on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. Protesters attacked a Toyota Camry with government license plates and a blue flashing light.
