* Calls for voters to boycott what it says is unfair vote

MOSCOW, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Hundreds of supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny began a nationwide day of protest against the authorities on Sunday, calling on voters to boycott what they said was a rigged presidential election on March 18.

Beneath bright blue skies, hundreds of young people gathered in the main square of the port of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East. Speakers called the election, which polls show incumbent Vladimir Putin should easily win, a farce.

“I will go to the elections when there’s a choice,” read one placard in Vladivostok, a reference to the fact that Navalny has been barred from running over what he says is a trumped up suspended prison sentence. “Putin is gobbling up Russia’s future,” read another.

Other protests took place in Novosibirsk, Kurgan, Omsk, Magadan, Kemerovo and Yakutsk. Navalny’s supporters said they expected thousands of people to take part in similar demonstrations in 118 towns and cities.

“Your own life is at stake,” Navalny, who organised the boycott protests, said in a pre-protest video.

“How many more years to do you want to live with these thieves, bigots and creeps?”

In Moscow, where a protest is expected later on Sunday, police forced their way into Navalny’s office and started questioning and searching people, citing reports of a bomb, an online feed run by Navalny’s supporters showed.

Police shut down a TV studio at the office which had been broadcasting online news bulletins, but another studio in a different location continued to operate.

Police detained six of Navalny’s supporters at the Moscow studio and around 16 protesters in other parts of Russia, OVD-Info, an independent monitoring group, said.

It was unclear where Navalny was, but a group of police officers was stationed near his home. Navalny said he planned to attend the Moscow protest later on Sunday.

Police warned beforehand they would harshly suppress any illegal protest activity and authorities refused to authorise events in Moscow and St Petersburg, the country’s two biggest cities, raising the possibility of possible violence.

Navalny, a lawyer who has campaigned against official corruption, was barred from running in the election by the central election commission in December over what he said was a trumped up suspended prison sentence.

The United States and the EU criticised the decision.

Putin, who has dominated the Russian political landscape for the past 18 years, described U.S. criticism of the election’s commission’s decision as crude interference in Russia’s internal affairs and suggested Navalny was Washington’s pick for the presidency.

Polls show Navalny had scant chance of beating Putin, but Navalny says the system is rigged against political opponents like himself which makes polls meaningless.

Whilst there is little suspense about the outcome of the election, there is keen interest in voter turnout as media reports say the Kremlin wants to ensure Putin is re-elected on a turnout of around 70 percent or more as it sees high turnout as lending him greater legitimacy.

Though Navalny can’t run against Putin and says he knows Putin will be re-elected, his spoiler campaign is aimed at lowering voter turnout to try to take the shine off a Putin win. (Additional reporting by a Reuters reporter in Vladivostok; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Katya Golubkova)</s>This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Russian opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny and 15 others have been arrested in Moscow after he attempted to lead a protest before a presidential election that is expected to return Vladimir Putin to power for another six years.



Navalny, 41, was wrestled to the ground by officers on Sunday as he walked up Tverskaya, Moscow’s main thoroughfare. Amid chaotic scenes, police with truncheons fought off supporters who attempted to pull him free.

His arrest came shortly after police had forced their way into his headquarters in Moscow in an apparent attempt to disrupt an online broadcast of nationwide opposition rallies. Police said they were looking for a bomb.

Navalny, tweeting from a police van, said: “I have been detained. This means nothing. You are not rallying for me, but for yourselves and your future.”

He was later released without charge, his lawyer told Reuters, although he will have face court at a later date.

The anti-corruption campaigner, who has a large social media following, had called for rallies in support of an opposition boycott of the election.

The Kremlin critic is barred from standing for public office after being convicted on fraud charges that he says were trumped up to prevent him from challenging Putin at the ballot box.

Alexey Navalny (@navalny) Задержание одного человека теряет малейший смысл, если нас много. Кто-нибудь, придите и замените меня pic.twitter.com/TODVdF5lEm

Authorities in Moscow and St Petersburg refused to give permission for the protests. In Moscow, about 2,000 people defied bitter cold and a heavy police presence to gather in Pushkin Square, a short walk from the Kremlin.

“Putin is a thief!” the protesters chanted. “Six more years? No thanks!” read one sign. Pyotr Kuvshinov, a 20-year-old student, said: “These are not elections, if there is no choice. They have stolen our candidate from us.”

Youthful opposition members at one point scaled lampposts on the square and unfurled a Russian flag to cheers from the crowd. Protesters later briefly marched towards the Kremlin. Scattered protests continued across Moscow into Sunday night, including outside the White House, the Russian government building.

Vladimir, a 70-year-old academic who attended the rally in Moscow, said: “We want to live in a democratic country. But people in our country have been taught not to think.”

In St Petersburg, where police cracked down hard on an opposition rally in October on Putin’s 65th birthday, about 2,000 people demonstrated in the centre of the city. Ten people were arrested.

Navalny supporters also rallied in about 100 cities across Russia, from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad.

In Cheboksary, central Russia, 50 people were detained, while 45 people were taken into custody at a rally in Ufa, according to OVD-Info, a non-governmental group that tracks arrests. Other opposition supporters braved temperatures of minus 45C to attend a protest in Yakutsk, Siberia.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Navalny told supporters: ‘You are not rallying for me, but for yourselves and your future.’ Photograph: Pavel Golovkin/AP

However, numbers at the rallies were far down on March and June, when Navalny brought tens of thousands of people out on to the streets to protest over alleged corruption by Dmitry Medvedev, the prime minister.

Police were also far more restrained, detaining about 250 people nationwide compared with more than 1,000 in June.

Navalny has already served three protest-related prison sentences since March, and he was nearly blinded in one eye last year when a Kremlin supporter with alleged links to the security services threw a chemical in his face.

Although Navalny has huge support among Russian liberals, many opposition members remain suspicious of him because of his links to Russia’s nationalist movement. Yulia, a protester in Moscow, said: “I’m here because I hate Putin, not because I like Navalny.”

Navalny's army: the Russians risking all to oppose Vladimir Putin Read more

Navalny says Putin is afraid to face genuine challengers at elections, and accuses the Kremlin of handpicking and approving rival candidates. Although Navalny is polling at about 2%, his supporters say an election campaign would have allowed him to capitalise on growing discontent over corruption and rising poverty.

There is precedent for this: Navalny unexpectedly took almost 30% of the vote at Moscow’s mayoral election in 2013, securing second place and almost forcing the Kremlin’s candidate into an embarrassing run-off.

The rallies on Sunday are unlikely to set alarm bells ringing in the Kremlin, which is keen to present a positive image of Russia before the World Cup in June. They also present Navalny with the challenge of rejuvenating his protest movement before the election.

Speaking in an interview before the rallies, Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin spin doctor who now supports the opposition, said: “Navalny has done a very important thing – he has returned politics to Russia. But Navalny has a big problem – he is unable to capitalise on his success.”</s>A still image taken from a video footage shows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny being detained by Interior Ministry members during a rally for a boycott of a March 18 presidential election in Moscow, Russia January 28, 2018. NAVALNY.COM/Handout/Reuters TV via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released from police custody late on Sunday after a brief appearance at a rally in Moscow calling for the boycott of a March presidential election that he said would be a rigged.

Navalny’s lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, told Reuters that her client had been released without charge but would have to face court at a later date.

If charged with violating laws on holding demonstrations, Navalny could face up to 30 days in jail.</s>Update 12.10pm: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been arrested in Moscow as protest demonstrations called by him took place across the country.

He has called on supporters to continue the demonstrations despite his arrest Sunday.

He said on Twitter: "They have detained me. This doesn't mean anything ... you didn't come out for me, but for your future."

Protests ranging from a few dozen to several hundred people were reported throughout the country.

Mr Navalny is calling for a boycott of the March 18 presidential election in which President Vladimir Putin is seeking a fourth term.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, centre, is detained by police officers in Moscow. Photo: AP Photo/Evgeny Feldman

Russia police have raided the Moscow office of opposition leader Alexei Navalny as demonstrations calling for a boycott of Russia’s presidential election take place across the country.

A video stream on Sunday morning from Mr Navalny’s headquarters showed police entering the office.

Police guard outside the office of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow. Photos: AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin

One broadcaster on the stream said police apparently were using a grinder to try to get access to the broadcast studio.

The anchors said police say they had come because of a bomb threat.

Mr Navalny, who has been blocked from running in Russia’s March 18 presidential election, called for nationwide protests on Sunday.

Sizeable gatherings have been reported in the Far East and Siberia, including Vladivostok, and more are set for Moscow and St Petersburg in the afternoon.</s>(CNN) Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested during anti-Kremlin protests in Moscow on Sunday, as rallies continue nationwide.

"I've been detained. This doesn't matter. Come to Tverskaya (Street). You are not going there for me, it's for you and your future," Navalny tweeted after his arrest.

Within minutes of arriving at Pushkinskaya Square, where hundreds of protesters had gathered, Navalny was wrestled into a patrol van by police, in dramatic footage posted on Youtube.

Moscow Police said Navalny taken to a police station for arraignment and to be charged for illegally organizing a protest. If found guilty, he faces 30 days in detention and a fine.

Earlier Navalny said police forced their way into his Moscow office, hours before the protests were due to take place.

Navalny, a longtime critic of President Vladimir Putin, broadcast CCTV footage of what he says is the moment police forced their entry into the office.

CNN contacted the Moscow police, but officials there said they "have no information regarding the raids."

Navalny has called for nationwide protests and for supporters to boycott what he calls rigged presidential elections, set to take place March 18.

Following the office raid, Navalny urged supporters to join the protests later Sunday.

"I am proud of all those who joined us today in any capacity: from Magadan to Sochi. From the FBK office to the headquarters in Kemerovo. From Krasnodar to Yakutsk, where the meeting took place at -40. These are real citizens," he said in a Facebook post.

"Be real citizens. Go out to the demo in your city."

Across the country, protests have ranged from gatherings of a few dozen in remote areas, to around 1,000 people in central Moscow, police said in a statement.

Prior to his arrest, Navalny said police sawed through the door of the office's studio during a YouTube broadcast Sunday morning.

"In order to take down our broadcast, the police cut out the door to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) office, and then began to saw the door to the studio right in the middle of broadcast," he said in a Facebook post.

"Do you know the formal reason? Dmitry Nizovtsev, the host, was accused of planting a bomb (without actually going off air, we must assume), and it was necessary to cut the doors ASAP in order to find this bomb.

"And then they detained him. Watch it, it's a good example of what the Russian police has become."

Eight staff members of Navalny's Moscow offices were detained in the raid, part of 90 people arrested across the country, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info.

They included the head of Navalny's Moscow headquarters, Nikolay Lyaskin, who was grabbed by police on his way out of the office, according to Navalny press secretary Kira Yarmysh.

Putin controls and dominates Russian State TV and there has so far been no mention of the demonstrations.

Instead, Navalny and his supporters have turned to YouTube to get their message out, with over 50,000 people watching his live feed as of Sunday morning.

Navalny, Russia's best-known opposition leader, was barred from running in the upcoming elections after a 2017 criminal conviction for embezzlement.

Critics say the case against the 41-year-old was politically motivated.

"Putin has been in power for 18 years now," he said. "People are not ready to wait another six years, then another six, then another."

The Kremlin has rejected allegations of widespread, high-level corruption and has condemned Navalny as a dangerous influence whose calls for protests could plunge Russia into chaos.</s>Protesters gathered across Russia Sunday to support opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s call to boycott the March presidential election, and Navalny himself was arrested while walking to the Moscow demonstration.

Many of the crowds that turned out in generally frigid weather skewed sharply young, apparently reflecting growing discontent among Russians who have lived most or all of their lives under President Vladimir Putin, who came to power on New Year’s Eve 1999.

“As long as I’ve been alive, Putin has always been in. I’m tired of nothing being changed,” said 19-year-old Vlad Ivanov, one of about 1,500 protesters who assembled in St Petersburg.

Navalny, Putin’s most prominent foe, organised the protests to urge a boycott of Russia’s March 18 presidential election, in which Putin is sure to win a fourth term. He was wrestled to the ground and forced into a police bus as he walked toward the demonstration on Moscow’s Pushkin Square.

The anti-corruption campaigner was denied permission to be a presidential candidate because of an embezzlement conviction in a case widely seen as politically motivated.

Late Sunday night, hours after police detained him, Navalny said on Twitter that he had been released before a trial. Russian news reports cited police earlier as saying he was likely to be charged with a public-order violation for calling unauthorised demonstrations.

Independent radio station Ekho Moskvy reported after his release that Navalny had not yet been presented with a charge.

No figures were available for how many people participated in the protests, but the turnout was clearly smaller than for rallies Navalny organised last year. The size and scope of the earlier protests, which took place in provincial cities regarded as the centre of Putin’s support, rattled the Kremlin.

Protests were reported in dozens of cities, from the Pacific Coast to the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad. Navalny’s webpage showed a small group of protesters in remote Yakutsk, where it was minus 45 degrees Celsius.

A crowd that police estimated at 1,000 people, but appeared larger, assembled in central Pushkin Square, brandishing placards reading “They’ve stolen the election from us” and “Elections without Navalny are fake.”

After that gathering dispersed, columns of protesters took off in several directions. One group skirted the Kremlin, then headed down the Novy Arbat, a prime shopping and entertainment area, and to the riverside government headquarters building informally called the Russian White House.

Shouting “Putin is a thief,” some of the protesters threw handfuls of snow through the high spiked fence surrounding the building. Police did not interfere, a contrast to their typically quick and harsh responses to unauthorised gatherings.

The OVD-Info organisation, which monitors political repression, reported that 257 people were arrested in the demonstrations throughout the country.

Hours before the Moscow protest, police raided Navalny’s headquarters, where there is a studio for live video transmissions. One broadcaster on the stream said police apparently were using a power grinder tool to try to get into the studio.

The anchors hosting the feed reported that police said they had come because of an alleged bomb threat.

One anchor, Dmitri Nizovtsev, was detained by police, according to video broadcast from the headquarters. Navalny’s Moscow coordinator, Nikolai Lyaskin, also was detained Sunday, the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Several hundred demonstrators assembled in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, complaining both of Putin’s rule and of Navalny’s exclusion from the March 18 presidential election.

“They took these elections away from us, they took away our votes. Our candidate was not allowed to run,” said Vladivostok demonstrator Dmitri Kutyaev.

Navalny rose to prominence with detailed reports about corruption among top Russian officials, which he popularised on social media to circumvent state control of television.</s>Moscow: Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been freed after a brief spell in police detention in Moscow as thousands rallied against a March election expected to extend Vladimir Putin's Kremlin term.

"I'm free," Navalny said on Twitter late on Sunday, adding: "Today has been an important day... Thanks to all those who were not afraid to fight for their rights."

Heeding a call by Putin's bete noire, thousands braved freezing temperatures to stage rallies in dozens of cities to protest upcoming "pseudo-elections," as Navalny and his supporters refer to them.

In Moscow, Navalny chanted "Swindlers and thieves" at a rally in the city centre on Sunday before several police officers pounced on the 41-year-old Opposition politician, knocking him to the ground and dragging him on to a bus.

Authorities said earlier Navalny would be charged with organising an unpermitted protest, adding he had been taken to a police station.

The Opposition leader urged Muscovites not to give up.

"You are not rallying for me, but for yourselves and your future," he tweeted.

About 4,000 people turned up for the unsanctioned rally in Moscow, with many chanting "Down with the czar" and brandishing placards saying "Voters' strike."

Authorities beefed up security, dispatching police vans and passenger buses to the city centre, but police largely refrained from arresting protesters. A crowd of protesters was later allowed to walk down to Red Square.

One group of protesters walked several kilometres and reached the government headquarters as police watched on.

Authorities estimated the Moscow turnout at around 1,000 people.

Ahead of the Moscow rally police broke into Navalny's headquarters using a power saw. Police also detained several members of Navalny's team.

More than 250 people were detained across the country, according to OVD-Info, an independent monitor.

Sunday's turnout paled in comparison to last year's protests when tens of thousands demonstrated against corruption among Russia's elite in March and June, 2017.

Police unleashed a severe crackdown afterwards, arresting more than 1,000 people including schoolchildren.

Navalny himself served three jail sentences of 15 days, 25 days and 20 days for organising unauthorised protests in 2017.</s>Russian police used an angle grinder to force their way into the office of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to his spokeswoman.

Images broadcast online by supporters of Mr Navalny showed officers arriving at the Moscow building and beginning to question people.

Mr Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said she thought the raid was designed to shut down the work of the politician's TV studio, which broadcasts bulletins and other videos on YouTube.

However, supporters of Mr Navalny have claimed that police said they were looking into reports there was a bomb in the office.

:: There's more at stake in Russia's election than Putin's pride

The incident on Sunday morning came as hundreds of the 41-year-old's supporters began a nationwide day of protests against authorities, calling on voters to boycott what they believe will be a rigged presidential election on 18 March.

Last month Mr Navalny was barred from running in the election by Russia's central election commission because of a suspended prison sentence for fraud, but thousands still turned out to endorse him for the presidency during demonstrations across the country.

In a video message addressing his supporters following the commission's decision, Mr Navalny said: "We knew this could happen, and so we have a straightforward, clear plan.

"We announce a boycott of the election.

"The process in which we are called to participate is not a real election. It will feature only Putin and the candidates which he has personally selected."

Despite Mr Navalny's show of defiance, polls show Vladimir Putin is on course for a comfortable re-election which would keep him in office for another six years.

Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned that unsanctioned pro-Navalny rallies would lead to "certain consequences".</s>Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released from police custody on Sunday after he was arrested during a day of nationwide protests against President Vladimir Putin.

Navalny, 41, was "released without charge," his lawyer, Olga Mikhailova, told Reuters. She noted her client would have to face court at another time.

Russian police reportedly wrestled Navalny into a patrol car in Moscow on Sunday moments after the anti-corruption campaigner appeared at a rally urging voters to boycott what he said would be a rigged presidential election in March. Putin is running for a fourth term.

Video showed Navalny walking a short distance when he was surrounded by helmet-clad police officers, according to Reuters. They wrestled him to the ground on the pavement, and then dragged him feet first into the patrol wagon.

Navalny urged supporters to continue the demonstrations despite his arrest.

He said on Twitter, "they have detained me. This doesn't mean anything ... you didn't come out for me, but for your future."

Navalny was denied permission to be a presidential candidate because of an embezzlement conviction in a case widely seen as politically motivated.

Earlier on Sunday police raided Navalny’s campaign office in Moscow.

A video stream Sunday morning from Navalny's headquarters showed police entering the office. One broadcaster on the stream said police apparently were using a grinder to try to get access to the broadcast studio.

The anchors said police say they had come because of a bomb threat.

Thousands of people braving the cold demonstrated in Moscow and other cities, including St. Petersburg.

The OVD-Info group, which monitors political arrests, reported scores of demonstrators had been detained at protests in cities including Murmansk, Ufa and Kemerovo.

Several hundred demonstrators assembled in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, complaining both of Putin's rule and of Navalny's exclusion from the March 18 presidential election.

"They took these elections away from us, they took away our votes. Our candidate was not allowed to run," said Vladivostok demonstrator Dmitri Kutyaev.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>MOSCOW: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been freed after a brief spell in police detention in Moscow as thousands rallied against a March election expected to extend Vladimir Putin's Kremlin term.

"I'm free," Navalny said on Twitter late Sunday, adding: "Today has been an important day... Thanks to all those who were not afraid to fight for their rights."

Heeding a call by Putin's bete noire, thousands braved freezing temperatures to stage rallies in dozens of cities to protest upcoming "pseudo-elections," as Navalny and his supporters refer to them.

In Moscow, Navalny chanted "Swindlers and thieves" at a rally in the city centre Sunday before several police officers pounced on the 41-year-old opposition politician, knocking him to the ground and dragging him on to a bus.

Authorities said earlier Navalny would be charged with organising an unpermitted protest, adding he had been taken to a police station.

The opposition leader urged Muscovites not to give up.

"You are not rallying for me, but for yourselves and your future," he tweeted.

- 'Down with the czar' - 

 About 4,000 people turned up for the unsanctioned rally in Moscow, with many chanting "Down with the czar" and brandishing placards saying "Voters' strike."

Authorities beefed up security, dispatching police vans and passenger buses to the city centre, but police largely refrained from arresting protesters. A crowd of protesters was later allowed to walk down to Red Square.

One group of protesters walked several kilometres and reached the government headquarters as police watched on.

Authorities estimated the Moscow turnout at around 1,000 people.

Ahead of the Moscow rally police broke into Navalny's headquarters using a power saw. Police also detained several members of Navalny's team.

- 'Not scared' -

 More than 250 people were detained across the country, according to OVD-Info, an independent monitor.

Sunday's turnout paled in comparison to last year's protests when tens of thousands demonstrated against corruption among Russia's elite in March and June, 2017.

Police unleashed a severe crackdown afterwards, arresting more than 1,000 people including schoolchildren.

Navalny himself served three jail sentences of 15 days, 25 days and 20 days for organising unauthorised protests last year.

But many protesters said Sunday authorities would not intimidate them.

"These are not elections because we already know the result," Elena Ruzhe, 62, told AFP in Moscow.

"I'm not scared to protest," added the former culture ministry worker.

Protester Alexandra Fedorova, who wore a fur coat, said it was wrong not to let Navalny take part in the vote.

"I don't see a future. There is nobody to vote for," the 27-year-old said.

- 'I want change' - 

 Protesters expressed similar sentiments in the second city of Saint Petersburg where around 1,500 people rallied, some chanting "Russia without Putin" and "Putin is a thief."

"I want change," Andrei Petrov, 20, told AFP in the former imperial capital. "We are tired of living in this quagmire."

Earlier in the day opposition supporters protested in far eastern Russia and Siberia, including in the northern city of Yakutsk where people rallied despite temperatures of around minus 45 Celsius (minus 49 Fahrenheit).

In the Ural city of Yekaterinburg around 1,000 people turned up, with the city's mayor joining the crowd.

"What we are being offered now is not an election," the outspoken mayor, Yevgeny Roizman, told the gathering.

Navalny -- seen as the only politician able to take on Putin -- has built a robust protest movement, tapping into the anger of a younger generation yearning for change.

He says the upcoming election will be little more than a coronation of Putin who is expected to win a fourth presidential term, becoming the longest-serving Russian leader since Stalin.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned unsanctioned rallies would lead to "certain consequences" -- a thinly-veiled promise of punishment.

Last year Navalny mounted a forceful bid to run for president but officials ruled him ineligible due to a criminal conviction which he says is politically motivated.

Navalny has said he would use the full force of his campaign -- including over 200,000 volunteers -- to organise "voters' strikes" and encourage Russians to stay away from polling stations on election day.

After 18 years of leadership, both as president and prime minister, Putin fatigue is spreading across Russia.

But the post-Soviet turbulence of the 1990s remains deeply ingrained in Russia's collective psyche, making many reluctant to take to the streets, observers say.
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is arrested by police at a protest rally in Moscow. His arrest comes shortly after police raid the headquarters of his unregistered Progress Party in an apparent attempt to disrupt online broadcasts of opposition rallies against Vladimir Putin, while police say they were looking for a bomb. Navalny is released from police custody without charge late Sunday but needs to appear in court later.