Russian activist stages one-man anti-war picket on St. Petersburg square

A Russian activist has been detained after staging a one-man picket on Palace Square in St. Petersburg, carrying a banner in the colours of the Ukrainian flag reading “No to war with Ukraine”, independent news outlet RusNews reported on Friday.

“This war is shameful and it never should have begun. It needs to end today,” the picketer, Yegor Shramko, told the outlet, adding that Russian intransigence was “the only obstacle to the cessation of hostilities”.

When asked why he had decided to stage his one-man protest today, Shramko answered that he had been thinking about it for months but had only now plucked up the courage to do so.

Shramko protested for about an hour, engaging with passersby, with some opposing his action, and some expressing support, according to RusNews. Law enforcement officers in full riot gear were seen putting Shramko in a police van.

Friday’s picket was not Shramko’s first protest. On 4 June, Shramko was detained for carrying a photo of slain opposition politician Alexey Navalny to the Solovetsky Stone, a St. Petersburg monument to victims of political repression. 

On that occasion, the court detained Shramko for 24 hours for displaying “extremist symbols”. Navalny, who was killed in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024, remains on Russia’s list of “terrorists and extremists” even after his death, meaning his likeness is still considered extremist.

Security forces, meanwhile, threatened Shramko in June with enforced enlistment, while also promising trouble at his workplace in an attempt at intimidation.