EU chief has urged Putin to release Navalny. But Kremlin won't budge

The Kremlin has dismissed Western demands to release Russia's most prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying his calls for mass protests over his arrest were "troubling".

European Council chief Charles Michel demanded the "immediate release" of Navalny in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

The EU had already condemned an attempt to assassinate Navalny and his arrest on his return to Russia after treatment, but Michel has now expressed "grave concerns" directly to Putin. He told the Kremlin chief he would launch a "strategic debate" on EU-Russia relations when he convenes a summit of all 27 EU leaders in March.

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"The President of the European Council informed President Putin of the grave concern in the EU and its Member States over recent developments and called to fully and unconditionally respect Alexei Navalny's rights," Michel's office said.

"Charles Michel stated that the EU is united in its call on Russia to swiftly release Mr Navalny and proceed with the investigation into the assassination attempt on him, in full transparency and without further delay."

Navalny, 44, was arrested on Sunday as he returned to Russia from Germany for the first time since he recovered from a near-fatal poisoning with the Soviet-designed Novichok nerve agent in August. He hit back Tuesday with the publication of a corruption investigation into a lavish, $1.35 billion property on Russia's Black Sea coast that he alleged was owned by Putin.

In a two-hour long video accompanying the report on his blog, Navalny described the vast estate as a "state within Russia" in which Putin is "tsar".

Navalny's allies are planning demonstrations on Saturday in dozens of Russian cities in support of the Kremlin critic who was arrested and jailed on his return to Russia following a near-fatal poisoning with a nerve agent.

Several close Navalny associates, including prominent activist Lyubov Sobol and his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, were detained on Thursday for urging Russians to join the demonstrations and they face hefty fines and short jail stints.

Russian police said Friday that "any such protests will be regarded as a threat to public order and immediately suppressed".

EU members already have several sanctions in place against Russian targets, and capitals are mulling further action after Navalny's detention.

EU leaders met by video conference late Thursday principally to tackle the coronavirus epidemic, but afterwards Michel issued a stern statement calling again for the release of Navalny and his supporters.

The European Parliament also passed a non-binding resolution urging Brussels to block to completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Meanwhile, the anti-corruption campaigner's arrest has triggered a wave of condemnation from Western countries which have called for his immediate release.

The Kremlin said the calls to protest were "troubling" and stressed it would not take into account Western demands to free Navalny.

"This is absolutely a domestic affair and we will not allow anyone to interfere in it," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The leading Kremlin critic has repeatedly led large-scale street protests against Putin, including in 2011-2012 when tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest widespread claims of electoral fraud in parliamentary elections.

(with inputs from agencies)