Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who aims to unseat Vladimir Putin in presidential elections next year, was detained by police ahead of a rally on Friday and could face up to a month in jail. In the latest attempt to thwart the Kremlin critic's campaign, police held Navalny for hours after he left his apartment having intended to travel to the rally in the provincial city of Nizhny Novgorod.
The event was due to start at 6pm (1500 GMT) but Moscow police said Navalny was detained "over multiple calls to participate in an unauthorised public event." The 41-year-old stands accused of repeatedly violating a law on organising public meetings - punishable by up to 30 days in jail.
Navalny insisted he did not receive any official explanation. "I am sitting in a reception room and looking at a portrait of Putin," he said on Twitter. One of his lawyers, Olga Mikhailova, later told AFP Navalny had been kept all day at the police station without a written statement outlining any reasons for detention. Navalny, an anti-corruption crusader, linked his detention with another - bigger - rally scheduled in Saint Petersburg, Russia's second city and Putin's hometown, on October 7, the president's birthday.
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