The story behind the protests in Russia

World News Iulia Postelnicu
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Last weekend, Russia was stricken with protests in more than ninety cities. This protest was the biggest one the country has seen in years and was meant to fight against corruption.

Thousands of people showed up and the whole protest turned out to be much larger than expected. Of course that Russian authorities had a reaction to this. Several protesters were arrested along with journalists and even some that were just passing on the street.

Among the ones attested is Alexei Navalny, the leader of the opposition. He received fifteen days in jail and got fined.

In fact, this protest has been planned for weeks. Alexei’s foundation that fights corruption dropped a video about this at the beginning of the month.

What sparked this are the rumors that PM Dmitry Medvedev is to blame for bribery as his estate has grown a lot lately.

The video that made it online has more than fifty minutes and features a lot of footage, pictures and documents that would incriminate the Prime Minister.

Alexei claims that the PM has used several foundations to bribe people and that’s how he got so much fortune. This video outraged Russians immediately and that’s what made them protest.

Lawmakers in Russia think that it’s time to start investigations. Corruption has been present in the country for way too long, even President Vladimir Putin is accused of this.

About this protests, Kremlin had only one answer: they were paid to show up. As the elections come next year, it’s unsure of the nature of this protests: if it was a one-time thing or if it will develop in a bigger  movement.