Braving bitter cold and attempts at intimidation, protests unfold across Russia.
From the frozen streets of Russia’s Far East and Siberia to the grand plazas of Moscow and St. Petersburg, tens of thousands of Russians rallied in support of the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny on Saturday in the biggest nationwide showdown in years between the Russian authorities and critics of the Kremlin.
The protests largely drew young Russians and did not immediately pose a dire threat to President Vladimir V. Putin’s grip on power. But their broad scope signaled widespread fatigue with the stagnant, corruption-plagued political order that Mr. Putin has presided over for two decades.
On the island of Sakhalin, just north of Japan, hundreds gathered in front of the regional government building and chanted, “Putin is a thief!” More than 12 hours later, as tens of thousands of protesters dispersed in central Moscow, some of them pelted the police with snowballs and kicked at a car belonging to the domestic intelligence agency.
posted a photo of herself in a police wagon on Instagram.
