July 2020. Tens of thousands of people have marched across Russia’s southeastern city of Khabarovsk on the border with China to protest the arrest of the regional governor on murder charges, continuing a two-week wave of protests that has challenged the Kremlin. Sergei Furgal has been in a Moscow jail since his arrest on July 9, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has named an acting successor. Protesters in Khabarovsk see the charges against Furgal as unsubstantiated and demand he stand trial at home. “People are offended,” said protester Dmitry Kachalin on Saturday. “I think people take to the streets because their vote in the 2018 election was taken away.” Unlike Moscow, where police usually move quickly to disperse unsanctioned opposition protests, authorities have not interfered with the unauthorised demonstrations in the city of Khabarovsk, located 6,100km (3,800 miles) east of the Russian capital.
Jul 2020. Unrest in Russia
