France Concerned by Russian Demonstration Arrests

Separately on Sunday, police arrested Navalny’s associates who were at their office, setting up and monitoring a webcast of the Moscow rally.

American politicians are already weighing in on the Russian demonstrations. Sen. Authorities declared the planned demonstrations in numerous cities illegal and arrested roughly 700 protesters, including Mr. Navalny and an American journalist.

Protesters numbering in the thousands also appeared in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok.

Navalny has already announced he’s running for president in 2018 – his announcement and campaign organizing run exclusively online – and Krashenninkov says these young Russians are his natural electorate.

Although some in Russian Federation are puzzled by Navalny’s success in mustering relatively large anti-government support, some students have heeded the call. Opposition leaders, including Navalny, were interrogated and had their offices and apartments searched.

Protesters were demanding Medvedev’s resignation. Russia’s leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny and his supporters aim to hold anti.

A haggard-looking Navalny arrived at a Moscow district court in a police van, posting on Twitter a selfie taken in the courtroom.

“The United States government can not be silent about Russia’s crackdown on peaceful protesters”.

The Kremlin said on Friday that plans for the central Moscow protest, which the city’s authorities had rejected, were illegal. The result would be 15 days in jail and a $350 fine.

The court has yet to deliver a ruling on charges accusing Navalny of resisting arrest.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused protest organizers of lying about the legality of the demonstrations, according to TASS. That last detail has taken off with protesters, many of whom carried rubber ducks on Sunday.

He said the authorities were concerned that opposition activists would try to encourage people to break the law again in the future.

Opposition circles in Russian Federation have been talking for weeks about a potential political thaw, based on a few mild rulings handed down by an otherwise stringent judiciary seeing to the release of certain activists and Kremlin critics.

The Trump administration has officially condemned the mass arrests of peaceful protesters in Russian Federation.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said the arrests were a “setback” compared to positive developments seen in Belarus over recent months.

The European Union’s diplomatic service on Monday demanded the release of demonstrators who were arrested during an anti-corruption protest in Russian Federation.

The spokesperson claimed that the protesters exercised their fundamental rights such as the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Anti-corruption protests took place on Sunday in Moscow and several dozen Russian cities.

However, the Kremlin described Sunday’s “unauthorized rally” as a provocation. Sunday’s protest arrests will put the thaw theory to the test, Kashin said, while Navalny continues a fervent game of politics.

The video attracted more than 12 million views.

However, when the opposition elected its own leaders in a 2012 election, Navalny won the vote, beating veteran Putin critic and former chess champion Garry Kasparov.