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Putin’s fiercest critic of Novičiok, who survived poisoning with a nerve-paralyzing substance, called for massive protests in the country after police detained him at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after returning from Germany, where he was being treated. .
Saturday’s protests, planned in several dozen Russian cities, will be a test for the opposition, which will have to mobilize its supporters despite mounting pressure from the Kremlin by critics and the risk of a coronavirus pandemic.
The first protests took place in cities in the Far East and Siberia, including Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Chita, where several thousand people gathered, Navalno supporters said.
OVD Info, which monitors arrests during opposition protests, said a total of 50 protesters were arrested in 10 cities.
Russian authorities have promised a tough response and police have said that unauthorized public events will be “immediately suppressed”.
In Moscow, where the biggest protests often take place, protesters plan to gather in central Pushkin Square around 2pm local time (3pm Lithuanian time).
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