Russian Opposition Leader Arrested In Moscow

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been arrested at an anti-corruption rally organised in Russia’s capital Moscow, reported BBC. Medvedev himself has not made any comments on Navalny’s allegations.

The documentary said the prime minister is now the billionaire owner of vast business holdings and a palatial complex larger than the Vatican.

Navalny is a persistent thorn in the Kremlin’s side.

“By my presence here, I stand against the corruption of the incumbent power”, said another protester who only gave his first name as Maxim.

And he has a almost unparalleled ability to rally followers despite the dangers inherent in public protest in contemporary Russian Federation.

The Kremlin would listen to what people who took part in other sanctioned anti-government protests in some Russian cities had said on Sunday, Peskov promised. But now Navalny and others from his foundation have been charged with extremism, and at least one person was charged with broadcasting the rally illegally.

Authorities in most cities, including Moscow, refused to authorize the rallies. Shortly before he was arrested, Navalny said “I’m happy that so many people came out (onto the streets) from the east (of the country) to Moscow“.

Police officers moved to detain protesters and clear the square, with some using truncheons and pepper spray to disperse the crowd, AFP correspondents said.

As evening drew in, hundreds of riot police lined up on Manezh Square at the end of Tverskaya Street and drove protesters away from the Kremlin’s walls. “Our topic of the day is the fight against corruption“, Navalny tweeted (in Russian).

Medvedev is also alleged to have used a network of charity websites run by business associates to hide his links to the deals.

Anticorruption protests took place in dozens of cities across Russian Federation yesterday, the most significant outpouring of public discontent since the 2011-2012 anti-Kremlin protests.

“We are so fed up with these crooks and thieves in the Kremlin”.

Separately, police arrested Mr Navalny’s associates who were working at their office, setting up and monitoring a webcast of the rally. But he has pushed ahead with his campaign.

“Yesterday’s rallies, especially the number of them in outlying regions – we haven’t seen anything like that since the 1980s – first of all shows how completely artificial that famous 84 percent support is”, Navalny told the Post via Facebook Messenger in the courtroom, referring to Putin’s approval rating, which hasn’t dipped below 80 percent in three years.

“Navalny is a unique politician of the younger generation”, said Nikolai Petrov, a professor at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, adding that he had managed to develop a high profile “at a time when public politics has ceased to exist”.

Navalny, a 40-year-old lawyer by training announced plans to run for the presidency after he won a surprise 27 per cent of the vote in the Moscow mayoral election in 2013.