Posted 5 февраля 2021,, 13:21

Published 5 февраля 2021,, 13:21

Modified 24 декабря 2022,, 22:37

Updated 24 декабря 2022,, 22:37

The Kremlin commented on the decision of Navalny's headquarters to suspend protest actions

The Kremlin commented on the decision of Navalny's headquarters to suspend protest actions

5 февраля 2021, 13:21
Фото: Анна Скудаева / Новые Известия
Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov called the decision of supporters of opposition politician Alexey Navalny to temporarily suspend protest actions in the country as "normal".

Commenting on the decision of Navalny's headquarters to temporarily stop the mass protests, Peskov said that he considers the absence of any illegal actions to be the norm.

“We strongly condemn any illegal, illegitimate actions. We must proceed from this. The absence of such should be the norm, and not the subject of any announcements", - Interfax quotes Peskov's response to a question about the Kremlin's attitude to the opposition's statement on the introduction of a temporary moratorium on mass protests.

According to Peskov, "the announcement of illegitimate actions by itself no longer correlates with the law". The Kremlin spokesman added that "there are procedures for coordinating various actions that can be resorted to while remaining in the legal field".

“This is our position”, - concluded Dmitry Peskov.

The reason for the question was the decision voiced the day before by the supporters of Navalny to suspend the protest actions until spring, taken on the basis that most of the coordinators of the opposition headquarters are now under arrest. In this regard, there was virtually no one to organize events.

Meanwhile, residents of the regions complain that where people try to submit official notifications to hold legal actions on time, they are denied. According to a public activist from Kostroma, lawyer and former investigator Viktor Yepifanov, residents of the city submitted an official application to the mayor's office in advance, trying to get the necessary approval for a mass action in defense of political prisoners in the center of Kostroma. But they were refused.

Activists challenged the decision of the city authorities in court, but the Sverdlovsk court of Kostroma, chaired by Judge Vetrova, sided with the mayor's office officials. In this regard, Yepifanov and his supporters were forced not to hold a mass action, but to organize individual single pickets, which, according to the law, do not require approval.

“We are told about legal methods of organizing actions, we are trying to follow them, but in reality the constitutional right of citizens to freedom of peaceful assembly is not respected: the authorities are looking for any reason to refuse us”, - Yepifanov said.

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