Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny says he was briefly detained by police and accused of an administrative offense that could result in a 30-day jail term.

Navalny and a senior ally, Leonid Volkov, were both detained separately on February 22, weeks before a presidential election in which Navalny has been barred from challenging incumbent President Vladimir Putin.

The developments raised the prospect that Navalny and Volkov could be in jail during the March 18 election, which the vocal Putin foe is calling on Russians to boycott.

Hours later, Volkov tweeted that he had been sentenced by a court to 30 days in jail, meaning he will not be released until after the March 18 election, which Navalny is calling on Russians to boycott.

Navalny's press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, said Volkov had been found guilty of organizing illegal protests, and that it was "obvious" he was being punished for Navalny's calls for a boycott of the election.

Navalny tweeted that he had gone to the dentist because "my tooth hurt," and that police approached him as he was leaving the dentist's office and told him, "You're detained."

He later tweeted that he had been taken to a police station and then released after being served with notice that he was accused of repeated violations of what Kremlin critics say are draconian laws restricting public assembly.

Navalny, who has organized protests and published reports alleging corruption in Russia's ruling elite, has been prohibited from running in the election due to a conviction on financial-crimes charges he contends were fabricated.

He wrote on Twitter earlier in the day that Volkov, who headed his campaign before he was barred from the ballot, was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. Volkov had been due to fly to the Bashkortostan region to meet with supporters.

Navalny has been detained numerous times and served short jail terms for organizing unauthorized protests and other alleged infractions.

He and other Kremlin critics say they suspect Putin's government wants to put him and his senior associates behind bars on or around election day in order to thwart their plans to hold more protests and monitor the vote for evidence of fraud.

"The [Kremlin's] aim is to neutralize the monitors and avert post-election protests," political scientist Yekaterina Shulman wrote on Facebook. She predicted the authorities would "isolate" Navalny and Volkov "on election day itself and immediately afterward."

Navalny was previously detained on January 28 on his way to a rally in Moscow that was part of a nationwide protests he organized to support his call for a boycott of the election, which he has dismissed as a farce and the "reappointment" of Putin.

Navalny said at the time that he suspected he was not brought to a court hearing right away because authorities wanted to make sure that he would be jailed for up to a month closer to March 18 in order to keep him behind bars on election day.

"If they jail me on January 28 then I will be released on February 28. But Putin wants me be isolated right on the eve of the election, and most likely on the day of the election. Therefore, I suppose they will jail me later to make sure that I am in a cell on March 18," Navalny wrote in his blog.

On February 20, police in Moscow detained Roman Rubanov, the chief of Navalny's Anticorruption Foundation, which has published the reports alleging graft among allies of Putin. A court ruled that he violated the law on public gatherings and handed 10-day jail term.</s>Alexei Navalny posted a picture of himself in a van with police after he was detained - Alexei Navalny/Instagram

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been charged with an administrative offence that could put him in jail when Vladimir Putin stands for re-election on March 18.

Mr Navalny said on Twitter on Thursday afternoon that police had taken him into custody as he was coming out of a dentist's office. He posted a photograph of himself in a van with police officers.

He later tweeted that he had been charged with illegally organising a public demonstration, an administrative violation that carries a potential 30-day jail sentence for repeat offenders like Mr Navalny, and released.

Moscow police said in a statement that they detained Mr Navalny to inform him of the allegations against him, as he had not responded to a previous request to appear.

The anti-corruption activist has been holding campaign rallies and protests around Russia over the past year, but was barred in December from running against Vladimir Putin in the election due to a politicised embezzlement conviction against him.

Since then, he has been calling for a voter boycott on March 18. Although Mr Putin is expected to easily win given his stable popularity, the Kremlin fears an embarrassingly low turnout for the dull election.

Mr Navalny was detained at a electoral boycott rally on January 28, but police later released him without charges. He has said this was so he could be detained again closer to the election, since the kind of administrative arrest he has been sentenced to in the past can only last 30 days.

“If they would jail me on 28 January, I would walk free on 28 February. But Putin wants me to be isolated right before the election, and preferably during the election,” he said.

Earlier this month, investigators questioned Mr Navalny about allegedly kicking one of the police officers who were filmed tackling him to the ground at the January 28 protest.

Mr Navalny's campaign manager Leonid Volkov was detained in a Moscow airport on Thursday morning on his way to speak at a Navalny headquarters in the city of Ufa. He faces similar charges of illegally organising a demonstration, Moscow police said on Thursday.</s>The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been detained by police then released a short while later weeks ahead of a presidential election in which he has been barred from running.

The 41-year-old anti-corruption campaigner has been repeatedly jailed for organising some of Russia’s biggest protests in recent years, railing against what he says are the gilded lives of Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.



He has been barred from running in the 18 March election over what his supporters say is a trumped-up suspended prison sentence but has called for a nationwide boycott aimed at undermining Putin’s legitimacy.

Whatever the turnout, though, Putin is widely expected to win the election by a landslide and secure a fourth term in the Kremlin.

Navalny said on Twitter that he had been detained by police on Thursday as he left from visiting the dentist. He said they had released him just under an hour later but had started legal proceedings against him for organising illegal protests.



“They offered me a lift somewhere, but I declined and have gone to work. I don’t understand what happened, and why it took seven people to detain me,” he said. 

If found guilty, Navalny faces up to 30 days in jail.

Navalny’s detention came shortly after his campaign chief, Leonid Volkov, also said on Twitter that he had been detained by police at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow.

A spokeswoman for Navalny said Volkov was still being held.

Tweeting before his detention, Navalny said Volkov had been planning to fly to the Russian regional republic of Bashkortostan to organise election-monitoring activities.

Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, told Reuters the head of the opposition campaigner’s Anti-corruption Foundation had been sentenced to 10 days in jail on Tuesday for organising an unsanctioned protest in January.

The latest detentions came ahead of a march on Sunday in memory of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down three years ago on a bridge close to the Kremlin.



Navalny has faced a string of administrative and criminal charges that he and his supporters see as politically motivated since he became the leading opposition figure campaigning against Putin’s rule at mass rallies in 2011 and 2012.</s>MOSCOW—A prominent Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, said he was briefly detained by police Thursday as authorities initiated legal proceedings against him for organizing illegal protests. The legal manoeuvring was widely interpreted as a precautionary measure, intended to ensure that Navalny could be safely tucked away, if need be, in the prelude to the Russian presidential election March 18. The charge, which will be heard by a court at an undisclosed date, could result in a jail sentence of up to 30 days. Earlier, Navalny had predicted that he was likely to be jailed for the period around the election.

Russia opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he could defeat Putin in a fair election Russia opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s calls to boycott election may be illegal: Kremlin Navalny is barred from running in the election because of a criminal conviction that he and most rights advocates say was fabricated. Instead, he is leading a campaign to boycott the vote, trying to keep the turnout down and deny President Vladimir Putin the sweeping victory he seeks.

Navalny said on Twitter that he had been detained by seven police officers as he left a dental clinic and that he had been released after being informed of the proceedings against him. “They offered me a lift to wherever I wanted, but I declined and went back to work,” Navalny wrote in another post. “I don’t understand what happened and why seven people detained me.” Over the past decade, Navalny, 41, became Russia’s pre-eminent opposition figure by exposing corruption and the lavish lifestyles of members of Putin’s inner circle. In 2017, he led a nationwide grassroots presidential campaign that included protest rallies in many traditionally pro-Kremlin Russian cities. At the end of January, Navalny organized a series of rallies attended by thousands to protest the Kremlin in sub-zero temperatures. Navalny also organized large-scale protests in June and in March, but he could not fully take part in them because police detained him each time. Separately, Navalny’s campaign chief, Leonid Volkov, was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow on Thursday and held at a police station. On Tuesday, Roman Rubanov, the head of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, was placed under 10-day administrative arrest on the charge of organizing an unsanctioned rally.</s>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he was briefly detained Thursday for organising illegal protests as Russia prepares to hold presidential polls next month.

Navalny, who has been barred from challenging President Vladimir Putin in the election, now faces a court hearing and up to 30 days in prison after being formally charged over an unauthorised January 28 protest when he urged supporters to boycott the upcoming vote.

Writing on Twitter, the prominent Kremlin critic said: "I came out of the dentist's and what do you know -- the second operative (police) regiment, 'you're detained'."

The 41-year-old later wrote that he was taken to a police station where he was charged with repeatedly breaking rules on holding protests.

"I've been released pending trial. I don't know when the hearing will be," he said.

In a statement, city police said Navalny had been told to come to the police station to read the case materials but had not done so.

Navalny, who cannot contest the election because of a criminal conviction he says is politically motivated, was detained on January 28 during a Moscow rally but released later that day without facing court.

He suggested the delayed hearing was a move by the Kremlin to ensure he would be in prison during the run-up to the election.

At almost the same time as Navalny's arrest on Thursday, his campaign chief Leonid Volkov was detained at a Moscow airport with police charging him over the same January 28 protest.

Many hours later, a court ruled to arrest Volkov for 30 days, the campaign chief tweeted. The decision means he will not be released until after the election.

With Russia pushing through a surge of legal action targeting Navalny's followers, a court on Thursday sentenced a man to a year in a penal colony for hitting a police officer during an anti-government rally in March 2017 that drew tens of thousands of protesters.

Six other participants in that demonstration have already been sentenced to between eight months and three years in penal colonies for "violence" against law enforcement officers.

And at another court hearing on Thursday, activist Roman Rubanov was sentenced to 10 days in jail for urging people to attend January's unauthorised rally on Twitter.

Navalny was also summoned for questioning this month by the powerful Investigative Committee over an allegation he attacked police during his detention after the rally.

If charged, he could face jail time.

Volkov on Tuesday tweeted that Navalny's supporters have already served a combined 2,433 days behind bars and had to pay a total of 13.4 million rubles ($237,000/192,000 euros) in various fines.

The latest detentions come ahead of a march on Sunday in memory of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down three years ago on a bridge close to the Kremlin.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced Thursday that a commemorative plaque would be put up on the Moscow block where the former deputy prime minister with fiercely anti-Putin views lived.

Navalny has recently caused controversy with a viral video report alleging influential Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko enjoyed lavish hospitality from billionaire tycoon Oleg Deripaska.

On Wednesday, Navalny's anti-corruption foundation released a fresh YouTube video related to the allegations that has already been viewed more than 750,000 times.

Both Prikhodko and Deripaska deny the allegations.

Navalny has faced a string of administrative and criminal charges that he and his supporters see as politically motivated since he became the leading opposition figure campaigning against Putin's rule at mass rallies in 2011 and 2012.</s>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was briefly detained on Thursday and accused of organising illegal protests, weeks before a presidential election in which he has been barred from running.

The 41-year-old anti-corruption campaigner was repeatedly jailed last year for organising some of Russia’s biggest protests, targeting what he says are the luxury lifestyles of President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.

Mr Navalny’s detention on Thursday came shortly after his campaign chief, Leonid Volkov, tweeted that he had been detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. Mr Volkov later tweeted that he had been sentenced by a court to 30 days in jail.

Mr Navalny said Mr Volkov had been planning to fly to the Russian regional republic of Bashkortostan to organise election-monitoring activities.

Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said Mr Volkov had been found guilty of organising illegal protests, and that it was “obvious” he was being punished for Mr Navalny’s calls for a boycott of the March 18th election, which Mr Putin is expected to win easily.

“As a high turnout is the Kremlin’s main goal, the authorities are very sensitive about our efforts to reduce it,” she said, adding that Mr Navalny would keep up his calls.

Mr Navalny has been barred from running in the election over what his supporters say is a trumped-up suspended prison sentence. Instead, he hopes for a boycott to undermine Mr Putin’s legitimacy.

Mr Navalny tweeted that he had been detained by police on Thursday as he left a dental appointment. He was released just under an hour later, saying police had opened a case against him for organising illegal protests.

“They offered me a lift somewhere, but I declined and have gone to work. I don’t understand what happened and why it took seven people to detain me,” he said.

If found guilty, Mr Navalny could also be jailed for 30 days, which would keep him behind bars until after the election.

Mr Navalny has come under increasing pressure from authorities as he has sought to rally Russians against the election, which he says is a sham and a rigged contest.

Although Mr Putin looks certain to secure a fourth term against rivals of little standing, analysts say the Kremlin is keen to boost his legitimacy with a high turnout, and avoid the impression that voters have stayed at home in protest at falling living standards.

Mr Navalny was detained at an anti-election protest in Moscow in late January and had his website blocked earlier this month after refusing to remove material covered in a court injunction.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday but has previously said Mr Navalny does not represent any real threat to Mr Putin.

Ms Yarmysh said the head of Mr Navalny’s Anti-corruption Foundation had been sentenced to 10 days in jail on Tuesday for organising an unsanctioned protest in January. – Reuters</s>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Thursday he had been detained by police.

MOSCOW: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained by police on Thursday but then released a short while later, weeks ahead of a presidential election in which he has been barred from running.

A 41-year-old anti-corruption campaigner, Navalny has been repeatedly jailed for organising some of Russia's biggest protests in recent years, railing against what he says are the gilded lives of President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.

He has been barred from running in the March 18 election over what his supporters say is a trumped-up suspended prison sentence, but has called for a nationwide boycott aimed at undermining Putin's legitimacy.

Whatever the turnout though, Putin is widely expected to win the election by a landslide and secure a fourth term in the Kremlin.

Navalny said on Twitter that he was detained by police on Thursday as he left from visiting the dentist. Just under an hour later, he said police released him but said they had started legal proceedings against him for organising illegal protests.

"They offered me a lift somewhere, but I declined and have gone to work. I don't understand what happened, and why it took seven people to detain me," he said.

If found guilty, Navalny faces up to 30 days in jail.

Navalny's detention on Thursday came shortly after his campaign chief, Leonid Volkov, also said on Twitter that he had been detained by police at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

A spokeswoman for Navalny said Volkov was still being held.

Tweeting before his detention, Navalny said Volkov had been planning to fly to the Russian regional republic of Bashkortostan to organise election-monitoring activities.

Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, told Reuters the head of the opposition campaigner's Anti-corruption Foundation had been sentenced to ten days in jail on Tuesday for organising an unsanctioned protest in January.</s>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he has been detained by police and that his chief of staff is also being held.

Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin's most visible and vehement foe, said on his Twitter account that he was detained on Thursday after leaving a dentist's office. The reason was not immediately clear and there was no official confirmation.

Separately, Navalny relayed a tweet from chief of staff Leonid Volkov who said that he had been detained at a Moscow airport.

The anti-corruption campaigner has been repeatedly jailed for organizing unauthorized protest rallies throughout the country. He aimed to run for president in next month's election, but was denied a place on the ballot because of a fraud conviction that many view as politically motivated.</s>MOSCOW -- Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been barred from running in the next month's presidential election, said he was briefly detained by police on Thursday.

Navalny said on his Twitter account that he was nabbed early Thursday afternoon as he was leaving a dentist's office in Moscow. Less than an hour later he tweeted that he was taken to a police station where he was presented with charges of organizing an unsanctioned rally and released.

There was no official confirmation and it was not immediately clear when he would appear in court.

Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin's most formidable foe, spearheaded protest rallies last month, calling for a boycott of the upcoming presidential vote. He was briefly detained at a Jan. 28 protest in Moscow but police did not immediately bring any charges against him.

Navalny's allies speculated that police would delay charging him to allow authorities to keep him behind bars on the election date, March 18.

Navalny mounted a nationwide grass-roots presidential campaign last year, tapping into the discontent in Russia's once politically dormant provinces which have traditionally voted for Putin. The anti-corruption campaigner was denied a place on the ballot in December because of a fraud conviction that many view as politically motivated.

Separately, Navalny's campaign chief Leonid Volkov said he was detained at a Moscow airport earlier on Thursday. His whereabouts were not immediately clear.

Navalny's boycott campaign is worrisome for the Kremlin, which fears that a lower voter turnout would be seen as a sign of declining support for Putin.</s>Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny says he was briefly detained by police and accused of an administrative offense that could result in a 30-day jail term.

Navalny and a senior ally, Leonid Volkov, were both detained separately on February 22, weeks before a presidential election in which Navalny has been barred from challenging incumbent President Vladimir Putin.

Navalny, who is calling on Russians to boycott the vote, wrote on Twitter that police approached him as he was leaving a dentist's office and told him, "You're detained."

He later tweeted that he had been taken to a police station and then released after being served with notice that he was accused of repeated violations of what Kremlin critics say are draconian laws restricting public assembly.

Navalny, a vocal Putin foe who has organized protests and published reports alleging corruption in Russia's ruling elite, has been prohibited from running in the election due to a conviction on financial-crimes charges he contends were fabricated.

Navalny wrote on Twitter earlier in the day that Volkov, who headed the presidential campaign Navalny conducted before being barred from the ballot, was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

He wrote that Volkov was on his way to the Bashkortostan region to meet with supporters.

Navalny has been detained numerous times and served short jail terms for organizing unauthorized protests and other alleged infractions.

He was most recently detained on January 28 on his way to a rally in Moscow that was part of a nationwide protests he organized to support his call for a boycott of the election, which he has dismissed as a farce and the "reappointment" of Putin.

Navalny said at the time that he suspected he was not brought to a court hearing right away because authorities wanted to make sure that he would be jailed for up to a month closer to March 18 in order to keep him behind bars on election day.

"If they jail me on January 28 then I will be released on February 28. But Putin wants me be isolated right on the eve of the election, and most likely on the day of the election. Therefore, I suppose they will jail me later to make sure that I am in a cell on March 18," Navalny wrote in his blog.

On February 20, police in Moscow detained Roman Rubanov, the chief of Navalny's Anticorruption Foundation, which has published the reports alleging graft among allies of Putin. A court ruled that he violated the law on public gatherings and handed 10-day jail term.
Russian police detained the political activist Alexei Navalny and his chief of staff Leonid Volkov, who will be taken to court for having organized an unauthorized protest on January 28. Navalny claims that the authorities want him in jail when the upcoming presidential election occurs on March 18.