OVD-Info: 43 people detained in Moscow Metro on Russia Day via face recognition system

The face recognition system helped the Moscow police detain 43 people in the city’s underground on 12 June, Russia Day, says OVD-Info. At least 67 people were detained yesterday nationwide.

Some of the detained activists were told they had been detained upon the “Russia Day bulletin” meaning that they were bound to be detained in any case. Others were detained for anti-war or anti-government demonstrations. Several activists were later released from police stations with no legal repercussions.

Sota’s reporter Pyotr Ivanov, activist Olga Bazhanova and journalist Asya Kazantseva, as well as numerous other protesters, faced detention. Kazantseva says she was forced to sign a paper confirming that she was “aware that people with minor wrongdoing records should not be using the rapid transit system on Russia Day,” according to Mediazona. Kazantseva is currently pregnant, and she says she was stressed by the detention.

Arina Yaroslavtseva, also from Moscow, was detained twice and forced to sign an explanatory statement. Andrey Olivieri, an activist, was detained in Saint Petersburg near the Park Pobedy metro station for holding a poster with Vladimir Putin’s 2014 quote, saying: “The worst thing a politician can do is to hold on to their position with their hands and teeth.” Olivieri was punished for breaching the COVID regulations, OVD-Info says.

A food chain called Vkusno i tochka (“Delicious. Full stop”) was opened in Moscow’s Pushkin Square, replacing a McDonald’s restaurant yesterday. The McDonald’s trademark has operated in Russia for 32 years. The company folded all of its Russian restaurants on 16 May; the press McDonald’s relations office said it was “impractical and inappropriate” to keep doing business in Russia.