Russians Stage Flashmobs to Support Navalny on Valentine’s Day

Residents of Moscow and Saint Petersburg on Sunday staged Valentine Day's flashmobs in residential courtyards and public squares, lighting their phone flashlights in support of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

Supporters of President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic took to the streets in freezing temperatures following his team's call to stage 15-minute rallies and post pictures of the gatherings on social media on Sunday evening.

It was not immediately possible to estimate the scale of the rallies but small groups of up to several dozen people were seen staging pro-Navalny flashmobs across Russia's two biggest cities.

Protester Alexander Kozhokar, one of around 50 people who lit their phone lights on Manezhnaya Square near the Kremlin, said he feared that Russia was turning into a "dictatorship."

"I am afraid of thinking what will come next," the 28-year-old factory worker from the town of Mytishchi outside Moscow told AFP.

- 'Country in decay' -

At a playground in southwestern Moscow around 30 people gathered -- some with dogs, others with children -- lighting flashlights and arranging Christmas lights in the shape of a heart on the snow-covered ground.

Protester Mikhail Orlov said he joined the playground flashmob to signal his unhappiness with Putin's policies.

"The country is in decay, science is in decay," the 29-year-old engineer told AFP. Orlov said he saw like-minded people lighting flashlights in their windows in a gesture of solidarity. 

Orlov's wife Maria said she was beginning to consider whether they needed to leave Russia. "I don't feel protected here," she said.

In an affluent neighbourhood in central Moscow, 28-year-old stand-up comedian Garik Oganisyan said...