World leaders call for Putin critic Navalny's release

WASHINGTON: Politicians from across the world have condemned the Moscow Court's sentence of Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest critic Alexey Navalny and called for his release.

US Secretar y of State Antony Blinken said that Washington will closely work with allies and partners on the court ruling for the Kremlin critic.

"The United States is deeply concerned by Russian authorities' decision to sentence opposition figure Alexey Navalny to two years and eight months imprisonment, replacing his suspended sentence with jail time," he said in a statement. Blinken added, "We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr Navalny, as well as the hundreds of other Russian citizens wrongfully detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly." The United Kingdom considers the arrest of Russian opposition figure as a breach of Moscow's international commitment, said Foreign Secretar y Dominic Raab said on Tuesday.

"The UK calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexey Navalny and all of the peaceful protesters and journalists arrested over the last two weeks," the statement, quoted by Sputnik read. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Navalny's decision to return to Russia as "brave and selfless" adding that the ruling expressess "pure cowardice".