Thousands Rally in Moscow Against Russia’s Role in Ukraine

Thousands of Russians gathered in Moscow Sunday to protest against Russia's involvement in the Ukraine crisis.

The crowds were seen carrying banners that read "We are together", "Putin, I'm sick of your lies" and "I don't want a war with Ukraine." They chanted "No to war."

"Putin means war, he is the leader of the party of war," Boris Nemtov, a  Kremlin critic said over the phone to Al Jazeera . "If there are a lot of us today, he will back down, because he is afraid of his own citizens, and only the Russian people can stop Putin."

With varying numbers about the crowd estimates, the Russian government figures put it at 5,000 and Russia's Union of Observers said that more than 26,000 people took part.

The demonstrators were seen carrying the Russian and the Ukrainian flags and members of opposition parties such as PRP-Parnas, Yabloko and blogger Alexey Navalny's Progress Party  waved their parties' respective colors during the demonstration, reports the Moscow Times.

The police was present in heavy numbers to control the crowds with even a  helicopter hovering in the background. The demonstrators were greeted by a banner with faces of the opposition leaders like Boris Nemtsov, writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya and rock singer Andrei Makarevich on a building opposite Pushkin Square that read "March of Traitors".

Similar protests were held in other cities of Russia including St Petersburg, Saratov, Perm, Petrozavodsk, Syktyvkar, Barnaul and Yekaterinburg

The Minsk agreement was signed Saturday between Ukraine's government and pro-Russia rebels, which includes setting up a buffer zone and withdrawal of troops on both sides. There is already a two-week old ceasefire in place

But NATO commander Gen. Philip Breedlove said that the ceasefire was on paper only and hostilities were still on.