Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny urges Russians to take to streets

The United Nations and Western nations told Russia to immediately free the opposition politician.

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Monday urged Russians to take to the streets in protest at his treatment in a video clip released after a judge ordered he be remanded in pre-trial detention for 30 days.

A man holds a placard reading "For Navalny!" as people, including supporters of Alexei Navalny, gather outside a police station where the Russian opposition leader is being held following his detention, in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia January 18, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov (REUTERS)

"Don't be afraid, take to the streets. Don't go out for me, go out for yourself and your future," Navalny said in the video, posted on YouTube.

Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport on Sunday after flying home for the first time since he was poisoned last summer. The United Nations and Western nations told Russia to immediately free the opposition politician and some countries called for new sanctions.