50,000 People in Moscow Protest Against Invasion

Steven Petrov
The Paw Print

Protestants chanted, “Don’t touch Ukraine” and “No to war”!

Over 50,000 people went out in Moscow on Saturday to openly express their position on Russia’s occupation of Crimea and on the political actions and strategies of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. In the beginning of the protests, there were roughly 3,000 people, but the numbers soon grew due to the importance of the political issue at hand. The Protestants reached the Academician Sakhrov Avenue in Moscow, where all of them gathered protesting, “No to the War” and “Don’t touch Ukraine.” The big crowd of people consisted of people with Russian and Ukrainian flags in hand from all different age groups.
The Protestants’ desires were also connected with their dissatisfaction with the fact that many of the former Soviet Union spies, agents, etc. are put in really key places within Russia’s political, economic and military structures. Alexei Navalny was a name pronounced multiple times from the crowd, showing the Protestants’ opinion for a potential solution for the problem. Navalny has been the main opponent of Vladimir Putin’s political decisions and military endeavors. He has been persecuted by the authorities and placed under house arrest in Moscow.
At the same time, a counter-protest of 15,000 Putin supporters took place, and, according to the police, all of Putin’s supporters involved in this counter protest gathered around the Kremlin and the Red square in Moscow. However, the official spokesmen for the counter-protest clarified that the current situation will not be tolerated and will not get out of hand in the way it did in Ukraine last year.
Protests, lasting three months long, resulted in the overthrow of Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych, and led to the rise to power of the pro-Western opposition. Many of the youngsters at the protests were wearing red jackets with USSR 2.0 abbreviated on the back, suggesting the need for a new Soviet Union using modern computer slang. There weren’t any violent activities between the two protests.
This post is an update regarding the intense political and military situation in Eastern Europe, following our previous articles from the last weeks’ newspaper. We will continue to keep a close eye on this issue, informing you of any future changes.