Moscow police detained between 150 and 200 teenagers in a sweeping Saturday night raid on Kitai-Gorod, hauling the young nonconformists to a local precinct where officers distributed military draft notices and allegedly denied basic supplies to minors.
What happened during the Kitai-Gorod raid?
As many as 15 police vans arrived in the popular nightlife district just east of the Kremlin at around 8:00 p.m. local time, eyewitnesses told independent reporting outlets. Officers began making indiscriminate arrests shortly after pulling up to the neighborhood, targeting teenagers who dress unconventionally, locally known as “nefors.”
One detainee told the RBC news website that officers intercepted their group of friends on the way to a clothing store, demanded their ages, and ordered them into a transport vehicle. “We weren’t drinking, smoking, or anything,” the detainee said, adding that they sat in the van for about an hour and a half before being taken to the Tagansky police station, according to The Moscow Times.
Why were teenagers given military draft notices?
Inside the Tagansky police station, officers handed military summonses to at least 17 individuals, the Telegram news channel Baza reported. One detainee told the Ostorozhno Novosti news outlet that everyone around them received a notice regardless of personal circumstances. “No exceptions. I have a deferment, but I still received a draft notice,” the detainee said.
The “Get Lost” organization, which helps Russian men avoid military service, reported Sunday that two people detained in the raid requested assistance after being ordered to appear at an enlistment office on Ulitsa Yablochkova on Monday morning. Meanwhile, a crowd of parents gathered outside the precinct chanting slogans, though Ostorozhno Novosti reported that police barred them from entering even as a 12-year-old child was held inside.
What do officials and rights advocates say?
The Interior Ministry described the operation as a preventive measure to maintain public order. However, Yekaterina Mizulina, head of the pro-Kremlin Safe Internet League, questioned why parents were blocked from seeing their children, noting that police lack the right to hold sober minors for more than three hours once legal guardians arrive.
Lawmaker Nina Ostanina, who chairs the State Duma’s family affairs committee, sent a letter to the Interior Ministry alleging that police violated the rights of minor detainees by holding them past the legal limit and failing to notify guardians promptly, the Vedomosti business daily reported.
On Monday, Moscow courts received 12 administrative cases involving petty hooliganism and disobeying police, with 21-year-old Magomed Gasanov sentenced to 13 days in detention after allegedly refusing to show his passport.
