A masked man was arrested after staging an anti-Putin protest atop a billboard in central Moscow, Russian media reported Monday, a rare act of public defiance in a country gripped by wartime censorship and repression.
The man climbed onto a billboard on Prospekt Akademika Sakharova before 4 p.m. local time, according to the Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram channel. Eyewitnesses said he unfurled two posters reading “Putin, where are you, b****? Make space for me.”
Photos shared by Ostorozhno Novosti showed at least three police officers standing below the protester. The billboard is located near an office building housing several banks and the Domnikov business center.
An eyewitness told Ostorozhno Novosti the man had “disappeared” when they returned 40 minutes later, though the banner remained intact while the “Putin” poster was missing.
Law enforcement officials managed to find and arrest the protester “sometime later,” according to the news channel, and they called workers to remove the anti-Putin posters.
The protester’s name remains unknown.
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