UK minister pays tribute to Russian protesters, saying Kremlin has ‘miscalculated badly’

‘President Putin and the kleptocrats that surround him have miscalculated badly young, Russian men and women are needlessly losing their lives’

Police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Moscow on February 24, 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

An armed forces minister has paid tribute to protesters in Russian cities demonstrating in open defiance of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine.

It comes after images and videos emerged of protests erupting in cities including the capital of Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg — chanting slogans such as “No to war!”.

Police were swift to clamp down on the protests and have so far arrested 1,667 people at protests in 53 cities, the OVD-Info rights monitor, which tracks arrests at opposition rallies said.

Addressing the protests, after footages showed authorities grabbing and pulling activists away, the armed forces minister James Heappey the Kremlin had “miscalculated badly”.

“I’ll also pay tribute to protesters in Moscow, St Petersburg, and other Russian cities, who protested against last night against this pointless loss of Russian life,” he said.

Speaking during an urgent question on Friday, he added he took “no satisfaction” in reporting to the Commons that 450 Russian troops had been killed.

Insisting responsibility lied entirely with the Kremlin, he added: “President Putin and the kleptocrats that surround him have miscalculated badly young, Russian men and women are needlessly losing their lives.”

Earlier Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, argued on BBC Breakfast there was growing evidence that the Russian president is “completely out of touch with his own people”, saying: “There are 56 protests in 56 cities in Russia against this.”

During a cabinet meeting last night, Boris Johnson also pointed to the protests within Russia, which he said “demonstrated that Putin’s actions would also face resistance from within his own country”.

Prominent Moscow-based activist Marina Litvinovich said she had been detained by authorities after calling for anti-war protests earlier on Thursday. She wrote on Telegram: “I was detained on my way out of the house.” Footage posted to social media on Thursday afternoon also showed hundreds gathering in Mr Putin’s home city of St Petersburg.

Russian forces’ movements since the invasion began (Press Association Images)

Protests have also erupted in major cities around Europe such as London, Madrid and Rome, to rail against a conflict that has already caused the deaths of dozens of people.

In London, activists gathered outside Downing Steet to sign the Ukrainian national anthem and chanted: “Stop Putin. Stop the war”, and “Ukraine is not Russia”.