Video shows Russian child being consoled by mum from behind bars after anti-war protests

Several videos of anti-war protesters being detained by the Russian authorities have made it to social media platforms such as Facebook. One such video shows a visibly distressed 7-year-old girl crying helplessly for her mother after they were detained by police officers in St. Petersburg on Wednesday .

The girl named Sofya had gone with her mother, Ekaterina Zavizion, to lay flowers at the Ukrainian embassy in solidarity with the people who have lost their lives in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. "I had the most peaceful intentions - to lay flowers in the memory of civilians and children who had perished in Ukraine," said Ekaterina.

"I had watched videos showing the horrible inhumane bombing in Kharkiv - and realised I could no longer sit under a bush shaking and pretend nothing was happening," she said.

In one of the videos that went viral on social media, distraught Sofya could be seen holding her mother's hand through the metal bars.

"Everything is going to be good; do you trust me?" Sofya's mother could be heard saying in the video. The girl then asks her mother when she will come out of the cell.

"It was surreal, I was not prepared for it. The children started screaming, it was hell," said Ekaterina about her experience in the cell.

It wasn't just Sofya and her mother who were detained by the police, but one other woman and four children were also taken to the police station. The others detained were Olga Alter along with Liza, 11, Gosha, 11, Matvey, 9, and David, 7.

They were released after a few hours of detention since children up to the age of 14 cannot be legally kept in custody for more than three hours.

The police have even threatened to put the kids into care , if their mothers did not stop participating in demonstrations against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

It is not just Ukrainian citizens, but Russians have also been holding protests against Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine. People have been gathering in different cities of Russia to register their protests.

According to a report by The Guardian, the authorities have arrested more than 320 anti-war protesters across 33 cities of the country, while 6,840 people have been detained since the invasion.