An elderly man in central Moscow staged a rare protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin before jumping from a bridge into the Moscow River, the independent news outlet SOTAvision reported Tuesday.
Video published by the outlet shows the man, later identified as activist Grigory Saksanov, holding a poster that reads “Putin Hitler” on one side and displays a swastika on the other. He is seen standing on the edge of the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, located right across from the Kremlin.
Saksanov, 68, then jumps into the river and floats face-up, appearing to imitate a corpse. A second video shows a rescuer leaping from a boat to reach him.
According to the exiled news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe, Saksanov, also known as “Uncle Grisha,” has been arrested multiple times at protests over the years, including an October 2022 protest at Moscow’s Alexander Garden, where he stood holding a poster that read “Putin” and featured a swastika.
SOTAvision said paramedics treated Saksanov after he was pulled from the water, but his condition remains unknown. Around eight police officers were reportedly dispatched to the scene.
Law enforcement authorities have not announced any arrests in connection with the protest. However, according to the Telegram news channel Baza, which has connections to Russian security services, police plan to take Saksonov to a detention center following a medical examination at the hospital.
Public demonstrations against Putin and Russia’s war in Ukraine have become increasingly rare amid sweeping laws that effectively ban criticism of the military. Scores of people have been fined, imprisoned or forced into exile for their anti-war views since the start of the full-scale invasion.
In November, police arrested a masked man who staged a similar anti-Putin protest from atop a billboard in central Moscow.
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