Dagestan is one of the areas with the highest blood toll in Ukraine. After the partial mobilization in the Caucasus republic, many women took to the streets, even if the security forces cracked down.
According to activists, more than 100 people were arrested on Sunday during a protest against the Russian partial mobilization in the Caucasus region of Dagestan. In Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's Dagestan region, the police arrested at least 101 people, according to the organization OVD-Info, which specializes in monitoring opposition actions.
Russian media released videos of women arguing with police officers during the demonstration. "Why do you take our children?" asks one of them. Other videos show demonstrators being brutally arrested by police.
Dagestan is a multi-ethnic Muslim-majority region and one of the poorest regions of Russia. It is also among the areas with the highest proportion of combat deaths in Ukraine, according to online obituaries and counts by independent Russian media.
To reassure the population, the region's military commissioner said over the weekend that initially only men with "special military skills" would be drafted, not conscripts.
According to OVD-Info, more than 2,300 demonstrators have been arrested in Russia since the partial mobilization was announced on September 21. Critics accuse Moscow of primarily wanting to mobilize men from poor and remote regions. On Saturday, President Vladimir Putin also signed an amendment to the law that would allow soldiers who desert or surrender to the enemy to be imprisoned for up to 10 years during mobilization.
Partial mobilization has also led to an exodus from Russia. Long queues of cars formed at border crossings to neighboring countries such as Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and eyewitnesses reported hours of waiting. Most direct flights to countries with no visa requirements for Russians have already sold out, and ticket prices have also increased enormously.
