Politics

Hundreds detained in Russia ahead of fresh pro-Navalny protests

Moscow, Jan 31 (efe-epa).- Russian police detained hundreds of protesters across the country on Sunday ahead of demonstrations in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was detained after he returned to Russia earlier this month from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning.

OVD-Info, which specializes in tracking police detentions in Russia, said at least 870 people had been detained by Sunday morning. Last week, some 4,000 people were arrested during the pro-Navalny protests.

In the capital Moscow, Efe witnessed as police waited outside metro stations to arrest protesters arriving at meeting points designated by Navalny’s team. Several of Navalny’s close associates have been placed under house arrest.

The leading opposition figure barely survived an assassination attempt last year and tests later revealed he had been targeted with the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny has accused President Vladimir Putin of being directly implicated in the attack. EFE-EPA

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