Russian Lawmakers Approve Plan to Relocate 1.6 Million Muscovites
By IVAN NECHEPURENKOJUNE 14, 2017
MOSCOW — At least 16 protesters were detained in front of the Russian Parliament building on Wednesday as legislators approved a plan
that could uproot up to 1.6 million Muscovites from their aging Soviet-era residences and move them into newly built apartments.
Nationwide, 1,721 people were detained on Monday, according to OVD-Info, an independent organization
that tracks arrests, during one of the most sweeping anti-government demonstrations since President Vladimir V. Putin came to power.
In a video message recorded and distributed on social media after the sentence, Mr. Navalny said he would spend the month reading, playing backgammon and sleeping,
but he urged supporters to continue fighting corruption.
Yulia Galyamina, the leader of the resettlement protests, was one of more than 850 people detained by
the Moscow police on Monday at a large anti-Kremlin rally on the city’s main Tverskaya thoroughfare.
The upper house of Parliament, the Federation Council, must approve the version of the plan passed Wednesday by the Duma, and Mr. Putin must sign it.
On May 14, thousands of Muscovites protested the plan,
and dozens picketed the lower house of Parliament, the Duma, every time it was debated, ultimately pushing the government to change some aspects of the law.
