Police brutally beat anti-war protesters in St. Petersburg, Russia
Nearly 50 Russian diplomats including their family members left New York for Moscow Sunday, according to Russian state news agency RIA.
It follows a request last week by the Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations that 12 Russian UN diplomats leave the US by March 7.
The US asked for the removal of the diplomats due to their alleged engagement in “activities that were not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations as diplomats,” Ambassador Richard Mills said during a UN Security Council meeting last Monday.
Late Sunday ET a Russian government plane carrying Russian diplomats expelled by the US left New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to Moscow, according to Flight Radar24 data.
Police brutally beat anti-war protesters in St. Petersburg, Russia
From CNN's Paul P. Murphy
Anti-war protesters in St. Petersburg, Russia were violently beaten by police Sunday, videos posted to social media show.
CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of the videos, which were taken on Sunday evening.
In the clips, protesters are seen walking along Nevsky Avenue in central St. Petersburg. Outside of the Kazan Cathedral, a violent interaction between protesters and police was captured on two of the videos.
One of the videos, which was posted to social media, shows a police officer attempting to detain an individual in the street. When one protester walks up to try to engage in the situation, another police officer appears and shoves that protester on the ground.
Another video, published by Russian news outlet SOTA Vision, shows police attempting to detain a woman on the ground.
In both videos, more protesters walk up and engage the police. Screaming is heard, and the video published by SOTA Vision shows police punching the man shoved on the ground.
In the video posted to social media, it later shows police successfully detaining the woman on the ground while also holding back protesters. Then, a police wagon shows up.
"No to war," protesters shout repeatedly.
CNN has contacted St. Petersburg police to ask about the nature of the arrest and did not receive an immediate response.
On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs told Russian state news outlet TASS that around 1,500 people “took part in an uncoordinated rally” in St. Petersburg Sunday, and around 750 were detained.
At least 4,640 people were detained in Russia on Sunday in connection with anti-war rallies across the country, according to OVD-Info, an independent human rights monitoring group tracking detentions. More than 13,000 people have been arrested in Russia over anti-war demonstrations since the invasion, the group calculated.
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