OREANDA-NEWS TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov in his program on Russia 1 TV channel criticized the opposition and accused the protesters in Moscow of having put themselves “outside the law” by their actions, while the government behaved “highly correct”.

The protest on Saturday lasted more than seven hours. The reason for it was the refusal to register at the elections a number of independent candidates for deputies of the Moscow City Duma, including Lyubov Sobol, Dmitry Gudkov, Ilya Yashin. Previously, some oppositionists were searched, some of them were detained, but then released. Most were charged to participate in the uncoordinated action.

Police estimates say about 3.5 people took part in the action. The opposition have other figures - about 10 thousand people. According to various sources, about 1.3 thousand people were detained.

The EU issued a statement after brutal detentions at an uncoordinated rally in Moscow.

“These detentions and the inadequate use of force against peaceful demonstrators, which followed a series of arrests and searches of the opposition, seriously undermine the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. These fundamental rights are enshrined in the Russian Constitution, and we expect them to be protected,” the EU said.