Police detained over 2,000 people and used force to break up rallies around Russia on Saturday (January 23) as tens of thousands of protesters demanded the release of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose wife was among those detained.
Navalny had called on his supporters to protest after being arrested last weekend as he returned to Russia from Germany for the first time since being poisoned with a nerve agent he says was applied to his underpants by state security agents in August.
The authorities had warned people to stay away from Saturday's protests, saying they risked catching COVID-19 as well as prosecution and possible jail time for attending an unauthorized event.
But protesters defied the ban and bitter cold, and turned out in force.
In central Moscow, where Reuters reporters estimated at least 40,000 people had gathered in one of the biggest unauthorized rallies for years, police were seen roughly detaining people, bundling them into nearby vans.
The authorities said just some 4,000 people had shown up. The foreign ministry questioned Reuters' crowd estimate, using sarcasm to suggest it was too high.
Some protesters chanted "Putin is a thief", and "Disgrace" and "Freedom to Navalny!"
Navalny's wife Yulia said on social media she had been detained at the rally. She was later released.
Some of Navalny's political allies were detained in the days before the protest; others on the day itself.
The OVD-Info protest monitor group said that at least 1,614 people, including 513 in Moscow and 212 in St Petersburg, had been detained across Russia.
It reported arrests at rallies in nearly 70 towns and cities.
To watch the full repot, please click on the video above.