Putin critic Alexey Navalny detained on return to Moscow

Russian police detained opposition leader Alexey Navalny, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, as he arrived in Moscow after being treated in Germany for poisoning, an arrest that’s set to pose an early test for Joe Biden’s incoming administration.

Navalny, 44, was met by officers at passport control as he landed in Moscow on a plane from Berlin Sunday, according to a live video feed on his YouTube channel. The Federal Penitentiary Service said he had been detained for violating the terms of a suspended sentence, state-run Tass reported.

Navalny, whose anticorruption exposes and success in galvanizing antigovernment votes have increasingly needled the authorities, had been recovering in Germany from an August nerve-agent attack he and Western governments blamed on Putin.

“This is my home,” he told reporters who’d traveled with him Sunday shortly before he was detained. “I’m not scared of anything.”

Navalny boarded the flight knowing that he could face a lengthy prison term if he returned.

He kissed his wife, Yuliya, goodbye before walking off with police. Authorities said he would be held pending a court decision on his sentence later this month.

Dozens of his supporters were detained by police at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, where he had appealed to them to meet him. The flight was diverted to another airport shortly before arrival.

The move to imprison the most prominent opponent of the Russian president marks the biggest crackdown by Putin in recent years. Coming days before U.S. President-elect Biden takes office, it could trigger an immediate clash with the new Democratic administration.

Navalny’s return comes as political tensions are rising ahead of parliamentary elections this autumn and support for the Kremlin falters amid the coronavirus downturn.

Putin, 68, whose twodecade rule makes him the longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, last year overturned term limits, allowing him to stay in power until 2036.