Navalny supporters plan fresh nationwide protests despite crackdown

Allies of jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny are preparing for nationwide protests even when authorities are trying to crack down on the dissenters. Alexei Navalny, one of the most prominent opposition figures in Russia is currently in jail and awaiting trial. Navalny's aides have called for fresh nationwide rallies to demand Navalny's release.

This week several Navalny associates, including lawyer Lyubov Sobol and his brother Oleg, have been placed under house arrest until late March pending charges for violating coronavirus restrictions by calling people to join protests.

Russian authorities have issued warnings against participation in these rallies and have threatened of criminal charges.

In an unprecedented move police in the capital Moscow announced the closure of seven metro stations and said movement of pedestrians would be limited in the city centre.

The authorities have also said that some centrally-located restaurants and shops will close.

Police detained 44-year-old Navalny at a Moscow airport on January 17 as he arrived from Germany, where he had been recovering from exposure to a Soviet-designed nerve toxin.

A makeshift court at a police station ordered the anti-graft campaigner placed in custody until his trial on charges of violating the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence.

Sunday's Moscow rally is due to take place outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, Russia's main security agency, which Navalny says carried out the near-fatal poisoning attack on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

(With AFP inputs)