The official No campaign has distanced itself from this weekend’s rallies, which have been organised by Simeon Boikov – known online as “the Aussie Cossack”.
special operation in ukraine. since the end of february, thousands of people have been detained for protesting so far, but in a country of over 140 million, these are not mass movements. in moscow, the authorities are taking no chances with columns with columns of police vans, barricades and document checks and in president putin s of russia, there is no space for dissent. caroline davies, bbc news, moscow. there have been rallies around the world this weekend protesting russia s invasion of ukraine, including several in cities in australia, where around 20 thousand russian citizens currently live. one of them is ilya fomin, he s a geologist and member of a pro democracy group of russians in australia called the svoboda alliance, who are critical of vladimir putin. we can speak to ilya now live from sydney. thank you forjoining us on newsday.