MOSCOW: Thousands of Russians marched through Moscow yesterday demanding Vladimir Putin resign, as the president took the helm of a loyalist movement designed to broaden his power base.
With helmeted riot police looking on, some 10,000 protesters chanted “Russia without Putin!” and called for the release of activists who face long jail terms over violence at a protest against his inauguration to a third presidential term last year.
Critics accuse Putin, in power since 2000, of clamping down on dissent after he weathered the biggest protests of his rule and returned to the Kremlin following a stint as prime minister.
“We have no democracy here, we have what Putin calls sovereign democracy. That means there is democracy for them, not for us,” said protester Andrei Rusakov, 53.
Protesters held pictures of 12 activists who are being tried over clashes with police at a rally the day before he was sworn in.
A bridge leading across the Moscow River toward the Kremlin was blocked by police lines, bulldozers and water trucks. Police said they detained nine members of a suspended opposition group.
Shortly after the march, Putin, 60, was chosen to lead the Popular Front at a highly choreographed congress of the group he created in 2011 as a source of support to supplement the ruling United Russia, which many Russians mistrust.
In a spectacle that mixed elements of Soviet Communist Party meetings and Western-style political conventions, members chanted Putin’s name after a speech full of patriotic rhetoric.
“We are united by values that are higher than political passions,” Putin told the gathering.
Putin spoke of freedom, human rights and the rule of law in his address but protesters said he has trampled on those values since starting his six-year third term.
Putin has signed laws restricting demonstrations and labeling US-funded civic groups “foreign agents.” Protest leaders are under investigation or on trial in what they say are trumped up charges.
Marchers, hoping to revive flagging protests, focused on the plight of 12 lesser-known activists who face up to eight years in jail over clashes with police in what critics call a Stalin-style show trial meant to scare away ordinary Russians.
“This is a political trial ... it is all clearly falsified,” said Natalya Kavkazskaya, whose son Dmitry, 26, is among the defendants and has been in pre-trial detention since last July.
Thousands protest against President Putin in Moscow
Thousands protest against President Putin in Moscow
Brazil’s Lula urges Trump to treat all countries equally
NEW DELHI: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged Donald Trump on Sunday to treat all countries equally after the US leader imposed a 15 percent tariff on imports following an adverse Supreme Court ruling.
“I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told reporters in New Delhi.
The conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled six to three on Friday that a 1977 law Trump has relied on to slap sudden levies on individual countries, upending global trade, “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
Lula said he would not like to react to the Supreme Court decisions of another country, but hoped that Brazil’s relations with the United States “will go back to normalcy” soon.
The veteran leftist leader is expected to travel to Washington next month for a meeting with Trump.
“I am convinced that Brazil-US relation will go back to normalcy after our conversation,” Lula, 80, said, adding that Brazil only wanted to “live in peace, generate jobs, and improve the lives of our people.”
Lula and Trump, 79, stand on polar opposite sides when it comes to issues such as multilateralism, international trade and the fight against climate change.
However, ties between Brazil and the United States appear to be on the mend after months of animosity between Washington and Brasilia.
As a result, Trump’s administration has exempted key Brazilian exports from 40 percent tariffs that had been imposed on the South American country last year.
‘Affinity’
“The world doesn’t need more turbulence, it needs peace,” said Lula, who arrived in India on Wednesday for a summit on artificial intelligence and a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ties between Washington and Brasilia soured in recent months, with Trump angered over the trial and conviction of his ally, the far-right former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump imposed sanctions against several top officials, including a Supreme Court judge, to punish Brazil for what he termed a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in a botched coup bid after his 2022 election loss to Lula.
Lula said that, as the two largest democracies in the Americas, he looked forward to a positive relationship with the United States.
“We are two men of 80 years of age, so we cannot play around with democracy,” he said.
“We have to take this very seriously. We have to shake hands eye-to-eye, person-to-person, and to discuss what is best for the US and Brazil.”
Lula also praised Modi after India and Brazil agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths and signed a raft of other deals on Saturday.
“I have a lot of affinity with Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
Lula will travel to South Korea later on Sunday for meetings with President Lee Jae Myung and to attend a business forum.
