Anti-war protester in her 80s grabbed by eight burly riot officers in Russia

ONE of the last survivors of World War Two’s Siege of Leningrad is bundled away by eight burly riot officers yesterday as Russia lashed out again at thousands of peace protesters.

Placard-holding Yelena Osipova, believed to be in her 80s, was forced into the back of a van as fellow demonstrators chanted anti-war slogans.

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One asked: “What sort of government is scared of a little old lady?”

Police also carried away a young woman. The scenes in St Petersburg came a day after children were seen being caged for daring to speak up.

Outside the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow a smartly dressed man in his 30s was hauled away for calling for Vladimir Putin to be prosecuted.

An estimated 10,000 people have been arrested in a week, with some detention centres overflowing.

Lia Jarmelishvili wrote on Facebook: “Will they arrest the whole Russian population? More must come out to protest this fascism.”

The Kremlin has hit back online with an army of fake accounts spewing propaganda.

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Many bots on Twitter pose as Brits or Americans claiming Russia is fighting a righteous battle against its ungrateful neighbour.

One, saying it was a retired journalist, falsely reported the Ukrainian army had taken Indian students hostage to use as human shields.

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Meanwhile, an exiled Russian oligarch said members of Mad Vlad’s inner circle were now planning to overthrow him.

From his house in Nice, France, Sergei Pugachev named former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev as a key plotter.

He added: “Putin’s power is dwindling. His entourage understands this, especially his closest circle.”

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