Dozens of supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have reportedly been detained in Vladivostok
More than 500 people have been detained as rallies in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny begin across Russia, a monitoring group says.
In Moscow police have closed metro stations and are restricting movement in the city centre. About 100 people have been detained there, Reuters says.
Mr Navalny was jailed on his return to Russia after recovering from an attempt to kill him with a nerve agent.
He is accused of not complying with a suspended sentence.
The opposition figure had only just arrived from Berlin, where he spent months recovering from the near-fatal attack.
Russian authorities say he was supposed to report to police regularly because of a suspended sentence for embezzlement.
Mr Navalny has denounced his detention as “blatantly illegal”, saying the authorities knew he was being treated in Berlin for the Novichok poisoning, which happened in Russia last August.
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied reports he is the owner of a vast palace on the Black Sea, as alleged by Mr Navalny in a video that has gone viral in Russia and has been watched more than 100m times.
What’s the latest?
Moscow authorities say about 300 people have so far gathered for the protest. Footage showed a stream of people being escorted on to buses by riot police.
Rallies in support of Mr Navalny have already taken place in the east of Russia, despite police warnings about gatherings.
In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, at least 2,000 people marched through the city chanting “Freedom” and “Putin is a thief”.
In Yakutsk, where temperatures fell to -40C, a protester named Ivan said it was the first rally he had attended.
“I am tired of the despotism and lawlessness of the authorities. No questions have been answered. I want clarity, openness, and change. This is what made me come here,” he said.
Further rallies saw about 1,000 people demonstrate in Omsk, also in Siberia, and about 7,000 people rally in Yekaterinburg in the Ural region, according to local media reports.
The OVD-Info monitoring group said police had detained 519 people at protests across the country. The previous week’s protests saw 4,000 people detained.
A number of close associates of Mr Navalny have been detained since last week and others, including his brother and Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina, have been put under house arrest. (BBC)
