Jan 29
Russian police detained a top opponent of President Vladimir Putin today as thousands of people around the country protested against a lack of competition in presidential elections planned for this spring.
Alexey Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner who has become Russia’s most prominent critic of Putin, was seized and dragged violently into a van by police as he tried to join one of the protests that he had called for in central Moscow.
“I was detained,” Navalny tweeted in Russian from inside the police van. “It does not matter … You don’t go for me, but for yourself and your future.”
Navalny also tweeted a video of his arrest and photos from the protests.
Late on Sunday, Navalny tweeted he had been released by police without any charges being filed,