Over 4,000 arrested at pro-Navalny protests across Russia

Raising slogans against President Vladimir Putin, thousands of people took to the streets Sunday across Russia to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, keeping up the nationwide protests that have rattled the Kremlin. More than 4,000 people were detained by police.Russian authorities mounted a massive effort to stem the tide of demonstrations after tens of thousands rallied across the country  Russian authorities have closed metro stations and restricted movement in Moscow ahead of planned rallies in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Many restaurants and shops in the city centre remained closed and overground transport was diverted.Navalny was jailed on his return to Russia after recovering from an attempt to kill him with a nerve agent. 

The 44-year-old Navalny, an anti-corruption investigator who is Putin's best-known critic, was arrested on January 17 upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusations. He was arrested for allegedly violating his parole conditions.The United States urged Russia to release Navalny and criticized the crackdown on protests.Navalny's team initially called for Sunday's protest to be held on Moscow's Lubyanka Square, home to the main headquarters of the Federal Security Service, which Navalny claims was responsible for his poisoning. Facing police cordons around the square, the protest shifted to other central squares and streets.