Police crack down on anti-war protesters in Russia

Policedetainedmorethan2,000peopleatanti-warprotestsin 48 cities across Russia on Sunday, a protest monitoring group said, aspeopledefied authorities to show their anger over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Since the invasion began Thursday, morethan5,500peoplehave beendetainedat variousanti-warprotests, according to the OVD-Info monitor, which has documented crackdowns on Russia's opposition for years.

In Moscow, riotpoliceoften outnumbered protesters, some carrying handwritten placards with peace signs andanti-warslogans in Russian and Ukrainian. Some wore masks with the word "Enough" onthe front.

A reporter for the independent television channel Dozhd was arrested during theprotestsdespite showing his accreditation to policeand wearing a press vest.

Outside the upmarket Gostiny Dvor department store in downtown Saint Petersburg, hundreds ofanti-warprotesters stood together, linking arms and chanting.

Sunday'sprotestscoincided with the seventh anniversary of the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.

In Moscow, some of the arrests took place at an improvised memorial just outside the Kremlin at the site where Nemtsov was shot, a Reuters witness said.

"No towar," shouted one of the demonstrators as he was being dragged away by thepolice.

Nemtsov was a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow's support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine thatultimately led to what Putin labels a "special operation" to protect the two separatist regions although his troops are fighting in wider Ukraine.

Ukraine's Western allies have slapped unprecedented sanctions in response to Russia's land, sea and air invasion.

Putin ordered his military command to put nuclear-armed forces on high alert on Sunday as Ukrainian fighters defending the city of Kharkiv said they had repelled an attack by invading Russian troops.

Tens of thousands ofpeopleacross Europe marched against Russia's invasion on Sunday, with 100,000 protesting in Berlin, in solidarity with Ukraine.