Putin Cites "Disorder" Of Black Lives Matter, Questions Capitol Riot Arrests

Vladimir Putin said he did not want to see something like the Black Lives Matter movement happen in Russia, but also criticized the arrest of many of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Russian President Vladimir Putin batted away a question about his crackdown on political rivals on Wednesday by saying he was trying to avoid the "disorder" of a popular movement such as Black Lives Matter in the United States. Putin, speaking at a news conference after a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Geneva, said he did not want to see something like the Black Lives Matter movement happen in Russia, but also criticized the arrest of many of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. "America just recently had very severe events, well known events after the killing of an African American. An entire movement developed, known as Black Lives Matter," he said. "What we saw was disorder, disruption, violations of the law, etc. We feel sympathy for the United States of America, but we don't want that to happen on our territory and we'll do our utmost in order to not allow it to happen," he said.