Moscow police detain 60 at Communist Party rally after anti-Putin slogans

Commemoration turns into protest

Around 2,000 people gathered in central Moscow on Sunday, 4 October 2026, for an authorized rally organized by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The annual event commemorated the 33rd anniversary of the October 1993 constitutional crisis, which culminated when President Boris Yeltsin ordered tanks to shell the parliament building after lawmakers resisted his economic reforms and supporters attempted to seize the state television centre. Official records listed 123 dead and more than 400 injured during that standoff, though Communist organizers maintained the toll reached into the hundreds. Participants carried photographs of the 1993 victims, read poems, and laid wreaths at the memorial monument. Although the rally opened with standard speeches attacking Western influence, participants quickly shifted focus to domestic political grievances.

Police intervention and detentions

Security forces intervened in two waves of detentions as the demonstration concluded and anti-government slogans spread through the crowd. Former regional deputy Yevgeny Stupin, whom authorities designated a foreign agent, reported that arrests accelerated when participants began chanting "Down with the Tsar." Officers moved into the crowd, rounding up protesters and placing them into police buses. Human rights group OVD-Info reported that police detained about 60 people, predominantly young attendees, consisting of 26 Communist Party members, 30 members of the liberal Yabloko party, and several unaffiliated activists. Demonstrators also chanted against the state communications regulator Roskomnadzor and demanded an end to political repressions, while one woman attempting to stop an arrest told officers, "You are killing our children in the war."

Grievances over elections and state media

The demonstration gave voice to anger surrounding the September State Duma elections, in which the ruling United Russia party retained power. Protesters in Moscow chanted slogans labeling United Russia a party of crooks and thieves, while participants also criticized state television broadcasts for misleading the public. Communist lawmakers had contested the parliamentary election results earlier in the week, alleging substantial irregularities with electronic voting systems. Demonstrators additionally called for the release of Dmitry Morozov, an activist from Izhevsk detained on narcotics charges on 2 October 2026 ahead of a planned vote-rigging protest. The Moscow gathering followed an authorized election demonstration held by approximately 100 people in the Siberian city of Tyumen on Saturday.

Unusual pressure on parliamentary opposition

The arrests created visible tension for the Communist Party, which has served as a compliant parliamentary faction under 82-year-old leader Gennady Zyuganov for more than three decades. The party won 13.8% of the vote in the recent parliamentary election, rarely challenges President Vladimir Putin directly, and consistently supports the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. Following the detentions, Communist Party deputy chairman Dmitry Novikov announced on Telegram that the party's Moscow branch was providing legal aid, later confirming that several detainees had been freed. The protest took place during broader wartime strain, as Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries and storage depots caused fuel shortages and daily disruptions across Russian cities, including Moscow.