MOSCOW (Reuters) – State prosecutors in Russia asked a judge on Monday to jail Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny for 30 days, after he was detained the previous evening at a Moscow airport when flying home for the first time since he was poisoned last summer.
The United Nations and Western nations told Russia to immediately free the opposition politician and some countries called for new sanctions. Moscow told them to mind their own business.
Navalny, in a video from inside the police station, called the hearing “the highest degree of lawlessness” and lashed out at President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of throwing the criminal code out of the window in fear.
The Kremlin was expected to comment on his case later on Monday, but usually refers questions about the 44-year-old politician to law enforcement agencies.