Russia detains allies of jailed leader Navalny HR SITUATION IN RUSSIA CONCERNS U.S.: BLINKEN

Moscow, Jan. 28: Several allies and supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were detained in Moscow early Thursday after mass protests last Saturday demanding his release from prison drew tens of thousands to the streets in over 100 Russian cities.

Navalny's top ally Lyubov Sobol, Dr. Anastasia Vasilyeva from the Alliance of Doctors union backed by Navalny and Maria Alyokhina from the Pussy Riot punk collective have been detained for 48 hours along with Navalny's brother Oleg.

All four are reported to be suspects in a criminal probe into alleged violations of Coronavirus regulations during the mass rally in Moscow. The raids came four days before new protests that Navalny's supporters have called for Sunday. The 44year-old Navalny, the most well-known critic of President Vladimir Putin's government, was arrested January 17 upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusations. The overnight detentions of his supporters came after more than a dozen raids on apartments and offices of Navalny's family, associates and supporters in connection to the probe.

Searched locations included Navalny's apartment, where police detained his brother, and a rented apartment where Navalny's wife, Yulia, has been living. Also Thursday, Russia's Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal probe against Navalny's top strategist Leonid Volkov, accusing him of encouraging minors to participate in unauthorised rallies.

In a further challenge to Putin, two days after Navalny's arrest, his organisation released an extensive video report on a palatial seaside compound allegedly built for Putin. It has been viewed

Washington, Jan. 28: The United States is concerned about the human rights situation in Russia and is worried about the safety and security of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken told reporters here on Wednesday.

“We've already expressed our deep concern for the treatment of Mr Navalny specifically and more generally with the human rights situation in Russia, and it remains striking to me how concerned and maybe even scared the Russian government seems to be of one man, Mr Navalny,” Blinken said at his maiden news conference.

Across the board, he said the US is reviewing all of these actions that are of deep concern to the United States, whether it is the treatment of Navalny or the apparent use of a chemical weapon in an attempt to assassinate him. over 98 million times, further stoking discontent. Demonstrations calling for Navalny's release took place in more than 100 cities across the nation last Saturday, a strong show of rising anger toward the Kremlin.

Nearly 4,000 people were reported arrested at those protests. Navalny fell into a coma while aboard a domestic flight from Siberia to Moscow on August 20. He was transferred from a hospital in Siberia to a Berlin hospital two days later. Labs in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to the Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent.