Russia has accused the United States of interfering in its internal affairs. Moscow says Western nations are backing protests in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny . Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the remarks. The United States has said its citizens have the right to protest.
Rebecca Ross, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Moscow, claimed on Twitter that the United States fully supports the Russian people's freedom of expression. He added that the Russian government's response to the protests was a violation of the people's rights. The US embassy has also issued a special alert for the US people staying in Russia.
In an interview with a Russian state television channel yesterday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that all these statements and actions by the United States were a direct interference in Russia's internal affairs.
Alexei Navalny fell ill with poisoning on August 20 while returning from a flight from Tomsk, Siberia to Moscow. Separate trials in France, Germany and Sweden have shown that Navalny was poisoned by a nerve agent. The anti-Putin leader was recently detained at the airport after returning to the country after receiving medical treatment in Germany. A Moscow court has sentenced him to 30 days in prison for failing to appear on parole.
Protests are raging across Russia over the arrests. The government is cracking down on protesters. Several European Union countries have issued statements criticizing the Russian government's crackdown and mass arrests.
The Russian Civil Rights Portal claimed that there were protests in 100 states on Saturday. A total of 3,400 people were arrested during the protests. Of these, 1,360 were arrested in Moscow alone. Meanwhile, 523 people have been arrested in St. Petersburg. In all, the human rights group claimed that about 40,000 people had taken part in the protests. However, the Kremlin did not agree with this number.
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