Wagner Group mutiny: the history of dissent against Russian president Vladimir Putin explained

As the face of Russia's strict regime for more than 20 years, Vladimir Putin is no stranger to dissent in the streets.

However, the latest moment of drama came as Moscow faced an attempted mutiny by his country's own paramilitary group after forces attempted to lay siege in an apparent coup.

Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin moved into the Russian capital with his troops in what appeared to be an attempted armed rebellion against the Kremlin on Saturday 24 June. However, the paramilitary leader later withdrew from the city, stating that he wanted to "avoid bloodshed" on the streets of Moscow.

The pair are said to have butted heads over the direction and decisions made in the war with Ukraine so far, with Prigozhin claiming that the rebellion was not a coup, but instead an attempt to protect his paramilitary group amid moves to fully incorporate it into Russian defence forces.

Putin told the Russian public that the incident was a "knife in the back of our people", later giving an ultimatum to those involved to either sign the contract with the Russian military or move to Belarus, a close ally of the country.

It's not the first time Putin has faced resistance to his regime. Here's everything you need to know about the history of the country's anti-Putin protests and incidents.

The Dissenters' March

From 2006 to 2007, a series of unsanctioned marches were held by Russian opposition parties in the run up to the 2008 presidential election. Marches were held in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, among other places.

The purpose of the marches was anti-Putin, and criticised his crackdown on political dissent throughout the country as well as alleged corruption within the government. The number of those in attendance varied from source-to-source, with police claiming that 800 people took part, while Russian media outlets quoted numbers from 2,000 to 15,000.

Political activist Garry Kasparov urged voters to make their voice heard at the 2008 election, saying: "We will have victory when we get our Russia back." Meanwhile, those in the crowd reportedly shouted slogans including "Russia without Putin", "give the elections back" and "out with corrupt authorities".

Strategy 31

Strategy 31 is a series of protests that were organised in support of the right to peaceful assembly in Russia amid a tightening on these freedoms. The organisers, including National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov, held demonstrations in Moscow's Triumfalnaya Square on the 31st of each month which had the day to coincide with the name given to the article in the Russian constitution which protects the right.

The frequent demonstrations were refused permission to take place by authorities on the basis that the Square was being used by other events at the time. Those who took part in the protests regardless were often arrested, and subjected to the force of riot police also.

The Snow Revolution

From 2011 to 2013, protests - known as the Snow Revolution - took place amid accusations that Russia's election process was fraudulent following Putin's announcement to run once again for president in 2012. Putin had faced allegations of election rigging, with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stating that the 2004 election has "lacked elements of a genuine democratic contest".

The Russian president had been accused of ballot stuffing, while state-run media outlets had allegedly shown an unfairly weighted preference for Putin throughout the campaign. The Snow Revolution called for an annulment of the 2011 legislative election results, the resignation of electoral commission head Vladimir Churov and an official investigation into voter fraud allegations. The protesters also called for the Kremlin to release all political prisoners.

A huge rally was held on the day of Putin's inauguration on 6 May 2012, with around 400 arrests, including notable political activist and opponent politician Alexei Navalny.

Anti-Ukraine War movement

While the world's attention turned to Ukraine in 2022 when Russia invaded the mainland, troops had already been at war in the Crimean Peninsula since 2014. Kremlin forces occupied the region following the removal of the Ukrainian pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych and amid demonstrations against this move in the region.

The full annexation of the peninsula came after the results of an internationally unrecognised referendum in the region supported the move. However, the day before the referendum, the so-called 'March of Peace' took place in Moscow in response to the unrest in the region.

The biggest demonstration of the movement which took place on 15 March, 2014 were reportedly attended by around 20,000 people.

A spate of anti-war protests also broke out following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to Russian human rights organisation OVD-Info, almost 15,000 people have been detained by authorities since the beginning of the full-scale conflict in February 2022.

There were also mass protests in the city streets of Russia in September 2022, after President Putin announced a new partial mobilisation of military reservists following the annexation of various regions such as Luhansk and Donetsk.

Alexei Navalny

One of the most prominent anti-Putin figures over the years has been Russian opposition leader and activist Alexei Navalny. Navalny has been vocally critical of Putin and the ruling Untied Russia party for many years, and gained a following online for his work to expose alleged corruption within the Kremlin.

Navalny ran for Mayor of Moscow in 2013 and over-performed compared to expectations, however he was still beaten by Putin appointee Sergey Sobyanin. He then attempted to run for the 2018 presidential election, but was blocked by Leninsky district court of Kirov, which served him a five-year suspended sentence.

Navalny, who was considered to be the most viable contender to Putin during the 2018 election, vowed to stand anyway. However, in 2017, he was attacked with chemicals outside his office at the Anti-Corruption Foundation, resulting in him losing 80% of his sight in his right eye.

Later, in 2020, the activist was poisoned with a Novichok agent, leading to his hospitalisation and he was placed into a coma. An eponymous documentary film was released in 2022 telling Navalny's story.

Having recovered from the poisoning, Nalvany is currently imprisoned on allegations of embezzlement for at least nine years and faces a further trial that could extend his jail sentence by two decades.

Activists have continued to back Navalny as a symbol of resistance against Putin's regime, and have also spoken out about his treatment in a high-security Russian prison.