MORE than 1,100 people in cities across Russia have been detained today at protests against Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, said a monitor, more than a week after the assault started.

OVD-Info, which monitors detentions at opposition protests, said by about 2.20pm Moscow time today, 1,103 people have been detained across 35 cities.

Siberian city of Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg in the Urals claimed the highest number of demonstrators held.

Riot police also detained those who gathered on squares in the country’s largest cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Memorial, Russia’s most prominent rights group, said one of its leading activists, Oleg Orlov, was detained as he held a placard on the Manezhnaya Ploshchad square in Moscow.

Russian police on Friday warned that all attempts to hold illegal demonstrations today will be “immediately suppressed”, and organisers and participants will face charges.

The latest detentions bring the total number of demonstrators held to almost 10,000 since February 24, when President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine to carry out a “special operation”.

Despite the official crackdown on protests and demonstrators facing jail terms, there have been daily protests since then.

Earlier this week, jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny urged Russians to stage daily demonstrations, saying the country should not be a “nation of frightened cowards”.

Putin on Friday signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for publishing “fake news” about the Russian army. – AFP, March 6, 2022.