Violent arrests in Russia: Protesters rallying against Putin’s war mobilisation

Breaking news - Nearly 1,400 people in 38 Russian cities have been detained for protesting against Vladimir Putin’s decision to order wartime mobilisation, independent protest monitoring group OVD-Info have said. Concern over being conscripted has seen flights out of Russia quickly sell out, and jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny called for mass demonstrations against the mobilisation. Putin ordered the military draft in a televised address in which he also announced moves to annex four Ukrainian provinces and threatened to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia, declaring: “It’s not a bluff“. Moscow plans to conscript some 300,000 troops and may be the riskiest domestic political move of Putin’s two decades in power, following months of Kremlin promises it would do no such thing “Even this limited mobilisation is likely to be highly unpopular with parts of the Russian population. Putin is accepting considerable political risk in the hope of generating