Independent opposition candidates Anti-Corruption Foundation Russia of the Future Libertarian Party Yabloko Party of Changes People's Freedom Party Alexei Navalny Leonid Volkov Mikhail Svetov Lyubov Sobol Ivan Zhdanov Ilya Yashin Konstantin Yankausakas Vladimir MilovDmitry GudkovAlexander SolovyovGennady Gudkov Sergey Mitrokhin Elena Rusakova Andrei Babushkin Anastasia BryukhanovaYulia Galyamina Vladimir Burmistrov[2]Sergey Tsukasov Valery Rashkin Eduard Limonov Anastasia Udaltsova Ella Pamfilova Valentin Gorbunov Sergey Sobyanin Starting from July 2019 numerous approved and unapproved rallies in Moscow (also known as part of the political crisis[3][4]) began, caused by the situation with the 2019 Moscow City Duma elections.

Widespread public protests were triggered by numerous authorities' violations, claimed by the independent opposition candidates, during the registration procedure.

[10] A number of media and politicians as well as the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights found no evidence of mass riots at rallies.

In addition, a significant part of the signatures was invalidated on the grounds of a so-called handwriting examination, which scientific validity and impartiality the candidates questioned.

[12][13][14] On the other hand, the MCEC registered 32 candidates from Communists of Russia party, which has very low popularity (during 2016 election to the State Duma it collected 2%).

The Police and the National Guard initially acted politely, but later they began to break up tents in the yard of the MCEC and to detain the protestors.

[20][21] According to the OVD-Info portal, by the evening 39 people were detained, including candidates Ilya Yashin, Lyubov Sobol, Ivan Zhdanov and Yulia Galyamina.

The meeting planned to be open, however journalists were not allowed to enter the MCEC building and Gorbunov set several conditions: he would talk with the candidates one by one in a closed format only.

[26] Then, Ilya Yashin announced that the MCEC removed him from the elections due to the allegedly exceeding the allowable number of false signatures and refused to accept written confirmations of the so-called "wrong" signatories.

[27] In the evening of the same day, several hundred people gathered at Trubnaya Square for an action for admission of independent candidates to the elections.

[44] The sentence was seemed to be connected with his July 22 publication of a photo of Italian permanent residency document belonging to pro-government journalist Vladimir Solovyov.

[55] On July 26, the MCEC approved the refusals to register Lyubov Sobol, Andrei Babushkin, Elena Rusakova and Ekaterina Ignatova.

[57] On the evening of July 26, searches were conducted at the headquarters of Lyubov Sobol, Ivan Zhdanov, Ilya Yashin, Dmitry Gudkov and Yulia Galyamina.

[61] On the morning July 27, police detained protest leaders Ivan Zhdanov, Lyubov Sobol, Dmitry Gudkov, Ilya Yashin, and Yulia Galyamina.

As it was revealed later, police and National Guard troops were dispatched from neighboring oblasts: Vladimir, Kaluga, Ryazan, Tver, Tula, Smolensk, Yaroslavl and Moscow.

Among protesters, there was no prominent opposition politicians, and groups marched without obvious leaders[68] At 5 p.m., the police knocked out the door to the studio of the channel "Navalny LIVE" and conducted a search.

[69] A few minutes later, the police came to the editorial office of the TV Rain channel, and handed to the editor-in-chief Perepelova a writ to interrogation as a witness in a criminal case on obstructing the work of the MCEC.

[70] Between 6.40 and 6.50 p.m., the judges in different parts of Moscow suddenly began to postpone the hearings on the cases of the candidates detained in the morning, thus making them free.

[83] The EU condemned numerous detentions and disproportionate use of force and called Russia to respect its OSCE commitments and other international obligations.

He accused organizers of protests in 'attempt of overthrowing of constitutional order' and 'violating the law' On July 30, Moscow Mayor Sobyanin commented on the situation.

Financial Times reports: "In Mr Zhukov's case, the evidence of him using 'violence' is a video in which he tries to lift up a riot policeman's helmet visor, according to Pavel Chikov, head of public defence NGO Agora.

318 went on a hunger strike since August 6[118] police actions during the 27 July rally[125] 1 year suspended sentence[128] man detained on the video[129] Art.

[172] On August 6, the CEC confirmed the refusal of registration to Alexander Rudenko, Dmitry Gudkov, Lyubov Sobol and Elena Rusakova.

[208] Pickets also took place in many large cities in central Russia: St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh, Perm, Krasnodar, Orenburg, Belgorod, Cheboksary, Izhevsk, Yaroslavl, Bryansk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kurgan, Syktyvkar, Murmansk, and some other.

[193] After August 10 the authorities declined all the requests for an approved rally by the independent opposition till late September, each time the Sakharov Avenue appeared to be occupied due to various reasons (the CPRF rally (see below), the Day of the Russian flag celebration,[210] the Moscow City Day celebration,[211] and finally the "garbage truck parade"[212]).

[213] A serie of parades and loud pro-government concerts caused a wave of indignation in social networks, residents of neighboring houses have submitted a complaint on excessive noise.

[215] On August 17, since the authorities refused to approve the rally, supporters of the independent candidates held solo pickets on the Boulevard Ring.

[228] On July 1, the FBK published an investigation of Andrey Metelsky's, the leader of the United Russia faction in the Moscow City Duma, property.

[240] On August 22, the FBK published an investigation of Vladimir Regnatsky's, the head of Security and Anti-Corruption Department of Moscow City, property.

[262][263] In September various state-owned companies filed lawsuits against FBK for "organizing riots", and the courts partially satisfied them in the amount of 5 mln rub (~US$78 000).