Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny jailed for 30 days amid Moscow vote standoff
- Police detain Alexei Navalny, accusing him of calling for an unauthorised rally in Moscow
- Anger mounts over exclusion of several opposition candidates from local election
Russian police raided the homes of several opposition politicians on Wednesday soon after top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 30 days in jail, in an apparent bid by authorities to crush a new wave of protest.
The latest crackdown on Russia’s opposition politicians comes as they fight to get on the ballot for the Moscow parliament elections in September amid falling approval ratings for President Vladimir Putin.
More than 22,000 people crowded a Moscow square on Saturday, the largest such demonstration in years, as anger grows over authorities’ refusal to put popular independent candidates on the ballot.
Navalny has called for an even bigger rally, near the Moscow mayor’s office, on July 27 if the authorities do not register the opposition candidates.
The opposition said the authorities launched a new crackdown to thwart those plans.
On Wednesday night, police raided the homes of Dmitry Gudkov and Ivan Zhdanov, Navalny’s allies and independent would-be candidates who were banned from running in the September election, on what they say are spurious grounds.