While the main structures of the Russian radical opposition have been silenced in recent months, and since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine freedom of expression has been drastically restricted for all, it seems that political forces are trying to mobilize to restore certain constitutional rights, in particular that of assembly, says the center-left daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
This right has been suspended as part of the health measures taken during the pandemic. Today, some of these measures, such as the obligation to wear a mask, have been lifted, but not the ban on gatherings on public roads.
Applications filed by the Yabloko Democratic Party and the Communist Party in Moscow and St. Petersburg received a niet from the Consumer Control Agency (the Rospotrebnadzor, which oversees the management of the pandemic), justified by the “still high level of contamination despite relative stabilization”.
“However, this did not prevent the Moscow authorities from organizing the giant rally on March 18 to celebrate the anniversary of Crimea’s annexation to Russia while prohibiting individual pickets”, commented to the daily an elected representative of Yabloko in the Assembly of Saint Petersburg.
Moscow opponent Mikhail Schneider, a member of the liberal party outside the Parnas system (People’s Freedom Party), goes in the same direction: “Keeping this ban when there is no danger to the health and life of citizens is