Covering the Russia protest: 'Police usually let western reporters go'

Our Moscow correspondent reflects on a new wave of anger against Putin over the treament of dissident Alexei Navalny

Over the last decade, I've covered so many protests against Vladimir Putin in Russia that they all start to blur together.

But the past month's demonstrations against the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have seemed to me darker and more serious than ever. There are few fun signs and little chanting; the mood is joyless but determined. I've never seen the streets of Moscow locked down like they have been in 2021, patrolled by riot police called cosmonauts" for their space-like helmets.