A Russian opposition politician has shared heart-rending images of children detained in the back of a police van after taking part in anti-war protests.
Despite the Kremlin has no tolerance for dissent, protesters have defied Moscow and taken to the streets against President Vladimir Putin‘s illegal war in Ukraine, risking jail and even treason charges.
Almost 7,000 people have so-far been detained by Russian police in as many as 50 cities, according to OVD-Info – an organisation that tracks protests in the country.
According to photographs shared on Tuesday by opposition politician Ilya Yashin, children are among those that have been snatched by officers.
The pictures show at least three children – no older than Primary School age – sitting in the back of what is reportedly a Moscow police van holding flowers and banners. One reporter said they went to lay flowers at the city’s Ukrainian embassy.
One girl is shown holding a sign that says ‘No War’ in Russian. Small Russian and Ukrainian flags have been painted around the words. To the right, the two flags are drawn followed by a small pink heart, to says ‘Russia plus Ukraine equals love’.
The girl is shown sitting on a chair in the back of a police van with a blank expression, with two children sat either side of her, who also both appear calm despite the circumstances.
A girl to her left is shown in a pink puffer jacket and mittens holding a bunch of flowers and another banner, while a boy to her left has his backpack at his feet.
Another photo shows the girl in the pink jacket standing up against metal bars that are keeping them inside the van. Her face appears red, as if she had been crying.
The other children can be seen behind her, as can what appear to be at least two Russian police officers dressed in black uniforms.
Officers in the same uniforms have been seen in Russian cities cracking down on protesters and bundling them into vans.
A third picture, again showing the girl in the pink jacket, suggest the children were taken to a police station. She can be seen sitting on a chair next to a desk, where a woman in a police uniform and a mask is working on a computer.
The ‘no war’ banners they were holding are laid out on the desk behind the girl, as is one of her flowers. It appears to be dark outside.
Ilya Yashin is a former politician who was banned from running for office in 2021 because he branded an ‘extremist’ for, he believes, his support of Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalny.
