Krasnodar City Hall revoked permission for a rally in defense of Telegram.

The Krasnodar administration has not reconsidered its decision to approve a rally in defense of freedom of speech on March 28, even on the outskirts of the city. Officials withdrew their approval for the event, citing security concerns due to the threat of drone and missile attacks.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on March 23, Krasnodar City Duma deputy Alexander Safronov announced that he had coordinated with local authorities a rally against the blocking measures imposed by Roskomnadzor. Moreover, the site on the outskirts of the city, surrounded by fields, was the only one approved by the Krasnodar mayor's office. As early as March 17, Safronov stated that activists do not intend to "hold a rally in the bushes on the outskirts": he initially refused this location for the rally, but after submitting a second notice, he agreed to it.

The rally's organizer, Krasnodar City Duma deputy and secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Alexander Safronov, expected that several hundred people would be able to attend the authorized rally in defense of Telegram and freedom of speech. He explained that he sought approval by citing the law on public assemblies.

"We submitted several applications for a single rally, but received no response. The law, I remind you, requires notification: this means you submit a notice, and there's no provision for refusal. By law, the administration can change the time and location of an event, and if the administration doesn't respond within three days, the rally is considered approved. Incidentally, the administration isn't even disputing this," Safronov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

However, today it became known that the Krasnodar administration's Department of Internal Policy has revoked the rally permit. According to the politician, the document "cancelling the permit for the rally" was sent to him by email "late yesterday evening, almost at night." Safronov called this decision illegal.

The document states that the public event cannot be held due to security reasons. Officials cited a "complicated operational situation" and a "missile threat," according to a post on Safronov's Telegram channel.

“Krasnodar officials, led by Mayor Yevgeny Naumov, initially approved the rally, but then, fearing the backlash and fearing too many people would show up, revoked the permit. Officials from the Department of Internal Policy were so frightened that they banned all our actions and cancelled all applications, even in Pokrovsky Square, where we weren't planning to anyway—it's 20 km from the city center,” the deputy wrote.

Safronov reported that he had already filed a lawsuit challenging the officials' decision to revoke the permit. At the same time, he reminded supporters that for now, “the rally is banned by the authorities.”

According to the rally organizer, the mayor's office refused to provide any clarification. "To all questions (they answered): 'Because, because.' They could have written that the Earth entered the Saturn phase or that there were solar flares; the legality of that would be exactly the same," "Caution, News," quotes his comment.

Kuban journalist Andrey Koshik also pointed out the dubiousness of the administration's arguments. "Apparently, Ukrainian drones on Saturday morning will be aimed exclusively at the fields surrounding Klenovy Park, because the administration does not prohibit all other public events," he commented on the mayor's office's decision on his Telegram channel.

Krasnodar political scientist Andrei Gusiy believed the authorities were prepared to allow the rally because it was "safe from a domestic political perspective," and the organizers had agreed to a "not ideal" location, to put it mildly.

"But there is an expectation that the number of people will be small and that everything will be limited to the informational agenda," Gusiy told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent before news of the approval revocation became known.

"Caucasian Knot" wrote that the organizers of the rally in defense of Telegram in Rostov-on-Don, as well as in Volgograd and Volzhsky, were also subjected to pressure. Rostov activist Evgeny Makovoz was arrested for ten days on charges of petty hooliganism, and security forces came to the home and work of activist Varvara Luch from Volzhsky.