Significant anti-Putin protests in the eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk

Der Standard (Vienna) reports on a protest in the Russian city of Khabarovsk (Neue Massenproteste im äußersten Osten Russlands, auch gegen Putin 26.07.2020: quotations are my translations from the German):

In Russia's far east, thousands of people demonstrated for the 16th day in a row against the detention of the governor sacked by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. Sergei Furgal has been accused of several contract killings, but many people believe these accusations are fabricated and speak of an act of revenge by the Kremlin.

These are the largest and longest protests since Putin took power. On Sunday, people gathered again in the city of Khabarovsk, some 6,000 kilometers east of Moscow, despite a ban. [my emphasis]

The article quotes "observers" as estimating Saturday's crowd at as many as 100,000 demonstrators. The city of Khabarovsk claims it was only 6,000.

Khabarovsk in eastern Russia (Wikipedia)

The ousted governor is part of the:

... so-called "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia" (LDPR) of the ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who considers the trial an act of revenge by the Kremlin. In 2018, to the annoyance of the center of power in Moscow, Furgal won the election against the candidate of the Kremlin party [United Russia]. Zhirinovsky also suggested that Furgal was being persecuted because he had become increasingly anti-Kremlin in the region. [my emphasis]

The governor chosen by Moscow to replace Furgal is also from the LDPR.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky campaigned against Putin for the Russian Presidency in 2012.

See also: Yury Zolotarev and Andrew Osborn, Tens of thousands protest against Putin in Russian far east Reuters 07/26/2020.