Vladimir Putin warns West of ‘red line’ as thousands protest

Thousands of supporters of Alexei Navalny took to the streets after the Russian leader delivered his state of the nation address.

Police cart away a protester in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday, one of more than a thousand arrested across Russia. Picture: AFP

President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday night against “crossing the red line” with Russia, in an annual speech the opposition hoped to tarnish with mass protests.

Thousands of supporters of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny took to the streets of Moscow and other cities after Mr Putin delivered his state of the nation address, with police detaining more than a thousand protesters.

The protesters are demanding Mr Navalny, who launched a hunger strike three weeks ago, be freed or given proper medical treatment after his doctors said he could die “at any minute”.

Crowds gathered in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, though not on the scale of pro-Navalny demonstrations earlier this year, when tens of thousands rallied and thousands were arrested. The West has backed the calls for Mr Navalny to be freed and provided with medical care.

In the speech, Mr Putin said Moscow would respond swiftly and harshly to moves against its interests. “The organisers of any provocations threatening the fundamental interests of our security will regret their deeds, more than they have regretted anything in a long time,” he said.

Mr Putin made no mention of Mr Navalny in his speech — he has always refused to use the name of his most prominent opponent. He did however hit out at rivals abroad, with Moscow and Western capitals at loggerheads over a Russian troop build-up on Ukraine’s borders and a series of espionage scandals that have resulted in diplomatic expulsions.

Mr Putin said it had become “a new kind of sport” in some foreign capitals to blame Russia “for anything”. He said Russia wanted good relations with everyone, but warned of an “asymmetrical, swift and harsh” response if that was seen as a weakness.

“I hope that no one will think of crossing the red line in relation to Russia. And where it will be — we will determine that ourselves.”

Much of Mr Putin’s address was devoted to announcements of new social spending and aid to families, as the longtime leader looked to shore up support for his unpopular United Russia party ahead of September parliamentary elections.

Mr Navalny’s supporters were hoping to steal Mr Putin’s thunder with a series of mass protests starting from 7pm in cities across the country. Demonstrations took place in large cities in the Far East, the Urals and Siberia including Vladivostok and Novosibirsk.

Defying warnings and a huge police presence, the protesters in Moscow marched through the city centre near the Kremlin chanting “Freedom” and “Putin is a thief”.

Police said 6000 people had gathered in the capital.

In Russia’s second city, Saint Petersburg, some 4500 protesters gathered, police said. A few hours after the demonstration began in Saint Petersburg security forces moved in to forcefully detain the protesters, with at least one man hit with a stun gun and police chasing people into subway stations. More than a thousand people were detained across the country, according to monitoring group OVD-Info, among them Navalny ally Lyubov Sobol and his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh in Moscow. While only 20 people were detained in the capital, more than 350 protesters were rounded up in Saint Petersburg, according to OVD-Info.

Mr Navalny was arrested when he returned to Russia in January after months recovering in Germany from a near-fatal nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin — an accusation it rejects. He was sentenced to 2½ years on politically motivated fraud charges and has been serving time in a penal colony about 100km east of Moscow. His health has been failing since he launched his hunger strike to demand proper medical care for a range of ailments. The EU and the US have imposed sanctions on Russia over Mr Navalny’s poisoning, and on Monday threatened Moscow with further penalties in the event of his death.

AFP