EU official fears Vladimir Putin will impose martial law in Russia

Will Vladimir Putin impose martial law in Russia? EU official fears tough measure will be brought in to crush protests over Ukraine invasion

• Fears grow that the Kremlin could impose martial law to stop anti-war protests 
• Regime clamping down on independent voices reporting on the Ukraine conflict
• Two liberal media companies have ceased operating after new censorship rules
• Russian schoolchildren are being taught the ‘liberation mission’ is necessary

Russia could impose martial law in a fresh attempt to curb dissent following its invasion of Ukraine, EU officials fear.

The Kremlin is clamping down on independent voices reporting on the Ukraine conflict, and Russian schoolchildren are being taught why the ‘liberation mission’ is necessary.

Now Brussels is picking up speculation on social media about potential Russian plans to introduce martial law, which it said would be ‘completely home-produced – as is the tragic loss of young lives killed in the military conflict, with Russian mothers having to learn about the loss of their sons’.

An EU official added yesterday: ‘It is something we’re conscious of and it’s something we’re worried about.’

Imposing martial law would allow the Kremlin to close borders, impose curfews, seize property and restrict the movement of people.

Security forces intervened during today’s anti-war demonstration in the St Peterburg

Russian security forces detain a protester during an anti-war demonstration in St Peterburg today

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the speculation as well as reports that the authorities will prevent men leaving Russia.

But he said Vladimir Putin would convene Russia’s national security council last night, though he did not say what it would discuss. The martial law fears come after Russian authorities imposed censorship on reporting of what the Kremlin calls a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine.

Two liberal media groups – radio station Ekho Moskvy and TV network Dozhd – said they were halting operations, in another blow for independent reporting in Putin’s Russia.

But Russians have still turned out for large anti-war protests across the country, braving mass arrests in a direct challenge to the president’s 22-year rule.

Nearly 7,000 Russian scientists, mathematicians and academics had, as of yesterday, signed an open letter ‘strongly’ protesting against the war in Ukraine. And Russian oil giant Lukoil called for an immediate halt to fighting in Ukraine, one of the first major domestic firms to speak out against the invasion.

Yesterday Russia held an online lesson for children on why the ‘liberation mission in Ukraine’ is a necessity.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (pictured) dismissed the speculation over martial law as well as reports that the authorities will prevent men leaving Russia

They were taught about the ‘danger’ represented by Nato and why Russia ‘stood up for the protection of the civilians of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics’, according to the Russian education ministry.

This week pictures emerged of children detained in the back of a police van after taking part in anti-war protests.

Some 7,669 people have been detained at anti-war protests since the invasion began on February 24, according to the OVD-Info protest-monitoring group. Many Russians are attempting to flee to destinations abroad that have not banned flights from Russia, and they have been prepared to pay high prices in their rush to escape.

Putin said last night that Moscow’s advance in Ukraine was ‘going to plan’ and appearing in no mood to heed the global clamour for hostilities to end.

Independent Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy announced its dissolution today. The station was banned from the airwaves because of its coverage of the invasion of Ukraine

During the televised opening of the national security council meeting, he said Russia was rooting out ‘neo-Nazis’, and added that he ‘will never give up on [his] conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people’.

Last night it was claimed that Putin concealed his plans to invade Ukraine from his cabinet and officials were unprepared for the scale of the sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Investigative website Agentstvo, citing sources close to the Kremlin, said the government was aware of plans to recognise two-Kremlin backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, but thought the sanctions would be light.

They reported that many officials were ready to resign in protest, but were afraid as this would be seen as an act of treason – with one fearing it would ‘lead to a prison camp’.

Moscow repeatedly denied it planned to invade Ukraine until its troops moved in.

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