Russian police on Sunday said they had released some 40 people detained during a banned protest against Vladimir Putin, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Braving freezing cold and the threat of heavy fines, hundreds of people defied the authorities on Saturday to gather at Moscow's Lubyanka Square, the seat of the FSB security services, to mark one year since the start of unprecedented anti-Putin protests triggered by fraud-tainted parliamentary polls last December. Police said around 40 people had been detained at the rally, including star anti-corruption blogger Navalny; Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of leftist group the Left Front.
Braving freezing cold and the threat of heavy fines, hundreds of people defied the authorities on Saturday to gather at Moscow's Lubyanka Square, the seat of the FSB security services, to mark one year since the start of unprecedented anti-Putin protests triggered by fraud-tainted parliamentary polls last December. Police said around 40 people had been detained at the rally, including star anti-corruption blogger Navalny; Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of leftist group the Left Front.