US criticises Russia for crackdown on Navalny protestors

Kremlin disregards Secretary of state’s comments as ‘gross intervention’ in Russian affairs

A man with a sign ‘Navalny’ on his back stands in front of riot policemen blocking the way to protester during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in St. Petersburg (AP)

The US has condemned Russian efforts to crack down on peaceful activists and journalists ahead of the trial of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Protest has erupted across the country following the arrest of the opposition leader at Moscow’s airport in January. He is due to stand trial on what he claims are trumped up charges of parole violations, which could see him serve three and a half years in prison.

However the Kremlin has said it will dismiss calls from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to release him along with thousands of protestors, with a spokesman saying it was not “not prepared to accept or heed American statements about this”.

Mr Blinken tweeted that Washington “condemns the persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists by Russian authorities for a second week straight.”

He also urged the release of Mr Navalny and those detained “for exercising their human rights.”

In turn, the Kremlin said it would disregard the Secretary of State’s comments on what it said were illegal protests within its own borders, while warning the Biden administration against imposing any new sanctions.

The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed Mr Blinken’s call was a “gross intervention by the US in Russian affairs” and accused him of conducting a “backstage role” and trying to destabilise the situation by supporting the protests.

Riot police detained more than 5,300 protestors on Sunday, with central Moscow placed on lockdown following a string of rallies and protests that have seen tens of thousands voice opposition to the hegemony of the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Among them was Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Mr Navalny, with journalist Sergei Parkhomenko saying she had been identified by plain clothes officers before her arrest. 

She was later fined for taking part in an illegal protest, while Mr Parkhomenko was one of at least 82 journalists apprehended in rallies nationwide.

While state-run media dismissed the demonstrations as small and claimed that they showed the failure of the opposition, Mr Navalny's team said the turnout demonstrated "overwhelming nationwide support" for the Kremlin's most prominent critic. His allies called for protesters to come to the Moscow courthouse on Tuesday.

"Without your help, we won't be able to resist the lawlessness of the authorities," his politician's team said in a social media post.

Mr Navalny, a vocal critic of Mr Putin, had returned to Moscow from Berlin after being poisoned by Novichok, a nerve agent developed in Soviet-era Russia. 

The chemical has been used on a number of opponents to the Kremlin in recent years, including former spy Sergei Skripal who was poisoned in the UK in 2018.

The attack led to widespread condemnation of the Kremlin from western powers, with UK foreign minister Dominic Raab describing Mr Navalny as “the victim of a despicable crime”.

Calling for his immediate release last month, Mr Raab added: “Rather than persecuting Mr Navalny Russia should explain how a chemical weapon came to be used on Russian soil”.

Additional reporting by agencies