Kremlin rejects calls for Navalny’s release

RUSSIA HAS brushed off calls from US and European officials to release opposition leader Alexei Navalny after he was detained on his return to the country.

The Kremlin described the detention of Mr Navalny, who was arrested after returning from Germany following treatment for nerve agent poisoning, as “an absolutely internal matter”.

Statements have come from around the globe condemning the arrest and calling for the immediate release of Mr Navalny, who blames his poisoning on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government. They add to the tensions between Russia and the West, with some EU countries suggesting the imposition of additional sanctions against Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “we can’t and are not going to take these statements into account”.

Mr Peskov told reporters: “We are talking about a fact of noncompliance with the Russian law by a citizen of Russia. This is an absolutely internal matter and we will not allow anyone to interfere in it and do not intend to listen to such statements.”

Mr Navalny was detained at passport control at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after flying in on Sunday evening from Berlin, where he was treated following the poisoning in August. He was ordered to pre-trial detention for 30 days during a hastily convened court hearing.

Russia’s prison service maintains Mr Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, violated the probation terms of his suspended sentence on a 2014 money laundering conviction, which was deemed “arbitrary” by the European Court of Human Rights.