A man was detained on Moscow's Red Square on Thursday morning for staging a lone protest against what he described as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The man, Dmitry Monakhov, had called on his Twitter followers to join him in the protest a day earlier.
"I am a Russian. I am not a sheep and I am not a killer. Nor am I an occupant. I am ashamed that [President Vladimir] Putin is my president. At 9 a.m. I am going to Manezh Square [to protest] against the war," Monakhov wrote on Twitter.
Monakhov kept his word, and witnesses described him shouting criticism about Putin before being detained by four police officers.
"This guy is screaming across the whole square that Putin is waging a war with Ukraine …," Filipp Kireyev, a journalist who was at the scene, wrote on Twitter.
"Our president is guilty of waging a war … Bodies of paratroopers don't come from space," Kireyev quoted Monakhov as shouting.
Monakhov was referring to recent reports of deaths of several paratroopers from Pskov. The circumstances of their deaths remain unclear, but some have speculated that they were killed while fighting in Ukraine.
After being detained for the unsanctioned demonstration, Monakhov was transported to a police station. It was unclear what charges, if any, he would face for the incident.
See also:
As Rebels Advance, Russia Is Accused of Sending Troops to Ukraine
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